RESTRUCTURING OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Ghana's educational system has over the years been a topical issue that is always being addressed in the media but very little is being done about it.
In brief, Ghana operates on a 6-3-3-4 system. Thus primary school -6 years, senior high school-3 years which was subsequently changed to 4 years and then reversed back to 3 years. Amounting to no WASSCE being written in 2010 making two cohorts graduate in 2013 and university bachelor's degree-4 years.
     Apparently, Ghana being a member of commonwealth, uses the English as it official language throughout their educational system.

Admission to senior high starts with the writing of Basic Education Certificate Examination(BECE) at the end of JHS form 3 which invariably ceritfies them to be admitted with good grade. After the examination students are required to offer a core curriculum of Integrated science, mathematics, social studies and english language and any other four or three electives chosen from one of these groups: science, arts(social science and humanites) vocational( visual arts or home economics), technical, business or agriculture.

At the end of Senior High, all students are required to take the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in each of the subjects annually in May-June but the results are available the following October.

Grading is exceptionally tough I must say.
The minimum university standard for admission to post secondary education is a "C".







With all these stringent process one has to go through before becoming a university graduate, the quality of education is beset with enormous problems not forgeting the disadvantages associated with its structure.
In relation to its quality, inadequate infrastructures and logistics used in educating the populace invariably is a major blockade of the Ghanaian government in archieving its goal of improving the quality of education.
But what steps has been taken to mitigate the problem?
One can not imagine that in this day and time, we still have one teacher teaching seven to eight subjects with students of 70-75 in a class.
How pathetic!!!.

 This would take us to another problem of poor remuneration for which youth of this age are refusing to engage in the teaching profession together with poor conditio0n of service.
Far from this, our system is more of the theoretical than practical thus being more knowledge based than technical.
Our education system continues to produce graduates for non-existing white collar jobs rendering the majority of our youth unemployed.

Consequent to this, moral crack down is on the increase, so is social vices such as armed robbery, prostitution, vandalism and all sort of abominable acts one could think of.
The question we need to ask ourselves is; what are our leaders doing about this canker that has plagued our educational system.


And it would interest you to know that these problems do affect our economy directly and indirectly. It retards  productivity which invariably slows down the rate of economic acitivities going on in the country.
What fascinates me the most is the gross examination malpractices that goes on in our institutions. It really makes me wonder whether  such red-tape procedures of examination really matters when accessing students to be elevated to their next level of study.
This is evident in the cancellation of examination questions in recent exams conducted by the examination body. We are always being told of measures being put in place to curb the menace yet the malpractice is still in existence.

 Most students graduates with execellent grades yet still do not know anything. You will meet them and you'll question yourself whether they really attended a school.
          As a concerned citizen, it is my wish that our educational system be restructured to avoid this problem of churning out unemployed graduates who turn out to seek non-existing white collar jobs

More technical and vocational institutions should be established to meet the demands of the growing larbour market.
Other methods should be instituted in accessing students togethe with the currents method.
Teachers should be provided with good condition of service and provided with the prerequisite logistics to work with for the better of all.
I believe voices of the people shall be heard.

    

African delicacy

Since ancient times, food has been an integral part of man's life  from the period of hunters and gatherers where man procured game and collected wild fruit to satisfy his hunger.
Undoubtedly, food has over the years contributed substantially to the development of man to our present day.Food is truly one of the basic requirement in life as promulgated by Abraham Maslow. To be exact food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body.
The Ghanaian society is a society with diverse culture consequent to that has so many local delicacies. From the northern part through the forest belt to the coastal land, there are people inhabiting the place with distinct culture which posses tasty, mouth-watering foods as part of its material culture.
 In the northern sector of the country, their favorite delicacy is tuozafi popularly known as TZ.

The picture above is a bowl of TZ

 Prepared from maize and eaten with either sauce or soup.












 Similarly in the forest belt which includes the people of Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, Eastern and some part of western region, the most favorite dishes include fufu with palmnut soup, banku with hot pepper served with either fried or dried fish, yam with palavar sauce.
 For instance, to prepare fufu, you have to get ingredients such as cassava and salt. You then boil the cassava till well cooked with the addition of a pitch of salt after which you pound the cooked cassava in a mortar with the use of a pistol.

fufu being pounded in mortar with pistol.

whilst pounding the soup may also be prepared elsewhere on the gas.












After everything is done the fufu is served in an earthenware bowl with water. The use of the hands without spoons, fork or knife distinguishes it from foreign dishes which always goes with cutlery.

fufu served in an earthenware bowl

Nothing is much more interesting than the relish with which the food is eaten. Although people claim to have reached a higher level in life, they still walk into 'chopbar' with their tuxedo just to have a bowl of fufu with either palmnut or groundnut soup.














 Travel to the Ga community in the coastal part of the country and you will be astonished to see a man walk into an obscure place just to find a plate of kenkey with hot pepper together with fried fish.

 Other foods include:

jollof rice with kebab

beans and gari with fried plantain

 These foods undoubtedly contains all the nutritional needs you  ever find in any food. Talk of iron, vitamins and minerals carbohydrates, protein and much more.
These helps the Ghanaian man and woman to undertake his or her daily activites.
Some of these foods are also of religious and cultural importance. they are used when performing rituals during festivals. E.g of such foods include the kpeple of the Ga, Eto of the Akans. Religiously, they believe that the gods should be fed in order to receive blessings.
Economically, it provides employment, income and thereafter raise the standard of living of people such as farmers, food venders, caterers, food dietician, waiters and others
An angry man is a hungry man. This is evident in people;s attitude when they are famished.
Their behaviour towards acquaintances becomes unpleasant as they are tired, weak and somehow depressed. As Oscar Wilde said '' After a good dinner one can forgive anybody even one's own relations''.
However, the values and virtues of these delicacies have been annihilated.
Some people have abandoned their indigenous delicacies and gone for expensive foreign foods.

Hamper for yuletide

Anxious about what might happen, what has happened is really the issue with our youth of today.

I am not an exception from this. As it is, you always have to leave the past behind and focus on the future, but it is equally good to reflect on the pros and cons of the past so as to learn from it. I ask today, how you exhibit your grievances. The youth of today exhibit their worries and depression through frantic decisions and actions which invariably are incorrect. They indulge in all sorts of activities which are detrimental to their social, emotional, physiological and psychological life.

I believe that the youth resort to such means because of lack of guidance, support and understanding form the older generations.

I would like to implore the youth especially those delving into politics to be cautious and desist from acts likely to cause mayhem what so ever.

listen my dear

My son, be humble in everything you do and people will appreciate more than gifts.

The greater you become, the humble you should be; and then the Lord will be pleased with you. The Lord’s power is great and is honored by those who are humble.

Don’t try to understand things that are too hard for you or investigate matters that are beyond your power to know.