3 YEARS OR 4? ARE WE WALKING ON SLIPPERY SLOPES?
The debate,
Raged on for weeks.
Opinions,
Everyone had theirs.
Academics
Parents
Students
And the man on the street,
All were very interested.
Public involvement,
Was minimal,
Issue was one purely for the learned
Not the commoners.
Three years or four?
Secondary school students
Waited in limbo.
Now you stand akimbo,
Speaking a four year lingo.
Classrooms,
Woefully inadequate,
Teachers,
Many schools are grossly understaffed.
Student to teacher ratio,
Very poor at present.
Textbooks,
They now seem a luxury
Rather than a necessity.
A total nightmare.
Question,
Do we enjoying doing things
On adhoc basis?
What happened to long term planning?
Does Ghana have an education policy at all?
If yes,
How come we’re behaving like a nation
That feels education is a bother?
Absolutely unimportant.
Has Ghanaian education become a liability?
Why do we feel the need to clothe everything in politics?
When shall we stop playing politics in everything?
The lives of our nation’s future leaders are at stake.
After the initial brouhaha
Are we sure or still undecided?
Three years or four?
Jury’s still out on this one,
A question pretty far from answered.
Please give answers to that question.
You’ve all gone silent all of a sudden
Your silence is a bit unnerving.
Way past time,
Please be up and doing
So far your actions have fallen below par.
Socialist
Nkrumahist
Capitalist
Maoist
Or whichever one of the ‘ists
You may subscribe to,
Please keep that to yourselves
It is of no importance to us.
Please for once, act with resolve
A little honest conviction
Be decisive and bury indecision.
Put away your political caps
And throw away your colours.
Give to a nation
A worthwhile policy for Education,
Education predicts the future of our nation.
Personally, I think we already spend too much time educating and too little time teaching. They say education is what is left when what is learnt has been forgotten. Maybe its just the mango leaves talking but we did ours in 2 1/2 yrs n felt no more confused than those who did 3yrs. The time for the cosmetic politics is far past n we shd let our leaders know that!
ReplyDeleteNice reading bro. Gud to be back now.
The length of the period does matter, but loses significance when it's content lacks lustre. I'm all for the duration that ties in with the current curricula for students as they prepare for their final exams. This is the goal in the long run.
ReplyDeleteSome times I wonder why we can't leave this to the educational experts. We continue to allow the politician to meddle in the future of our kids. We don't need our kids to come and determine if the cat in the box is dead or alive, we just want them to be useful for society and themselves that's all.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you present the problem up front to become the voice of the people, but to me, the people need to see the real benefits of being educated. They need to visualize going somewhere in this world besides Ghana and know that they will need to be educated to maintain in the place where they will be.
ReplyDeleteWhen I visited Ghana, I noticed billboards everywhere with something about God on them, heard gospel being played all over the place, and even observed goo gobs of churches in the cities; that's all good but what is the use of having all of that God stuff going on if the meat of his message is not being absorbed? What I'm trying to say is, if there were more love there the conditions of everything wouldn't be so bad. The politicians would be more honest, the people who head business' would be apt to take a little more care in the hiring and paying the salaries of the employees; lastly God would really pour out more blessing on the country as a whole. God don't like it when people go through the motions and their hearts are far from him. Many name the name of the Lord, but still live like a sinner (with an excuse). I think the solution to many of the problems there is to get more of God (not just his name) into everything to see how he will turn it all around.
Saint,until we put quality first and allow dat to dictate duration of education @ de various levels,we'll keep running in circles forever.we need a long term plan dat all governments stick to nd make necessary amendments wen necessary.wholesale changes just upset de balance nd throws de whole system into disarray...gud to hav ya bak in de village gabe,de leaves wer beginning to complain...lol...
ReplyDeleteArmah,after agreeing to run de 4yr stream.we eventually realised dat classrooms, teachers, syllabuses nd oda logistics were needed so we came bak nd decided to run de 3 nd 4yr streams concurrently.dat alone is an indictment on our terrible planning nd half-baked loving nature.we've not done enuf work on dis 4yr agenda.mark ma words,it wil eventually become an albatross arnd our necks.besides,unless quality is improved in de 3yr stream nd eventually expanded into de 4,we're wasting resources nd blowing hot air...thanks 4 comn bro.do cme again...
ReplyDeleteKwesi,it seems an educational system dat empowers students to think nd become innovative is too big an ask in gh.as 4 de politics,hmmm... sme1's always lukn to score cheap points sme way smehow...lol..
ReplyDeleteAbi,der are no true leaders here.dey're all lukn for bread dat's why dey chase power.we need selfless ppl up in der.funny ting is,de truth does nt get u elected in gh,propaganda coupled wit freebies does...
ReplyDeleteIf you think of a year, grow rice……….
ReplyDeleteIf you think of ten years, plant a tree………….
If think of hundred years, educate your children……….
-Confucius
Hi wished i could have written a thesis on this protracted issue.Its so sad as to how politicians are toying with the lives of our future generation...swinging them like a pendulum to the direction they think fit. now let me zero in on my stance.first of all, this issue is no new news...an old unhealing wound we want to dress for a permanent heal. As a professional teacher of the old seven year system, i have these discoveries to share.
1.A satisfied worker is a productive worker so it had been said.we teachers as the implementers of the educational policies are not happy with the 3 year duration as the syllabus is too broad to be covererd within this limited period.In addition, teachers as the implementers of the policies are many times sidelined in its formulation stage and are only called to implement the ideas of those who do not know exactly what is happening at the grassroots level of education.Hence teachers become peeved at this scenario and do not become committed to any course which they were sidelined at the beginning.
2.Besides, our academic standards have fallen as a result of lack of teaching learning materials which the government either fail to provide or do provide at the wrong time
3.Moreover teachers in this country have never been happy with their salaries when they compare themselves to their other colleagues in other sectors and this has always affected the delivery of their service wit respect to their commitment,work output etc.i believe that the earlier these problems attended to the better for the nation.I hope the govt implementation of the single spine salary structure will help change certain things..hope to add more anytime free...lest i forget we can draw some wit from the above quote as whether it should be 3 years or 4
If you think of a year, grow rice……….
ReplyDeleteIf you think of ten years, plant a tree………….
If think of hundred years, educate your children……….
-Confucius
Hi wished i could have written a thesis on this protracted issue.Its so sad as to how politicians are toying with the lives of our future generation...swinging them like a pendulum to the direction they think fit. now let me zero in on my stance.first of all, this issue is no new news...an old unhealing wound we want to dress for a permanent heal. As a professional teacher of the old seven year system, i have these discoveries to share.
1.A satisfied worker is a productive worker so it had been said.we teachers as the implementers of the educational policies are not happy with the 3 year duration as the syllabus is too broad to be covererd within this limited period.In addition, teachers as the implementers of the policies are many times sidelined in its formulation stage and are only called to implement the ideas of those who do not know exactly what is happening at the grassroots level of education.Hence teachers become peeved at this scenario and do not become committed to any course which they were sidelined at the beginning.
2.Besides, our academic standards have fallen as a result of lack of teaching learning materials which the government either fail to provide or do provide at the wrong time
3.Moreover teachers in this country have never been happy with their salaries when they compare themselves to their other colleagues in other sectors and this has always affected the delivery of their service wit respect to their commitment,work output etc.i believe that the earlier these problems attended to the better for the nation.I hope the govt implementation of the single spine salary structure will help change certain things..hope to add more anytime free...
adjei agyei-baah