Double-Track School System: A Pointer to Resource-Based Learning

Once again, the Nations is engulfed in a din over changes being introduced at the secondary   educational level. There are several opinions, yet a close analyses indicates, basically a for-or-against-or-I told you so stance. Consequently, innovative ideas are drowned by the entrenched howls. The alarming reality is that Ghana’s educational system is stuck in the traditional mode. Majority of Ghanaians can perceive teaching and learning only in the physical classroom, where a teacher delivers before learners. Breach that reality, and the nation gets a panic attack, hence, the furore over the intended double-track system.

That Information Technology has impacted heavily on education is amply demonstrated in Resource-Based Learning (RBL), which communities over the globe are utilizing in order to improve learning, as well as expand access to education. RBL utilises virtual classroom, thereby, making teaching and learning convenient processes. If our system had tapped RBL even a little, the double-track approach would have been a smooth transition. Of course, in RBL computers and other gadgets are required. Ironically, the concept of RBL was conceived in Ghana about two decades ago.

In the nineties, the Ministry of Education introduced ICT centres to designated secondary schools. Surrounding schools utilised the facility for studies. The centres were resourced with computers and teachers. Currently, most schools, if not all, have ICT centres. Until last year, a constituent of tuition was allocated to ICT. Question: If one should visit any of the schools, would one find the centres actively operational? Would the student:computer ratio be conducive for effective learning? Would one find that centres have Internet connectivity? Would one find that students have regular, open access to the centres? Most important of all, would the students have an inkling about the enormous resources buried in the computers?

The NDC Government recently introduced a one computer per learner practice; at least, I saw pupils using such computers in my neighbourhood. Communities also have ICT centres. Were all those measures not motivated by the concept of RBL? Paradoxically, teaching and learning at all levels get steeped in the physical classroom by the day. At the primary and secondary levels, teachers are passionate about extra-classes, which compound the time learners spend in the physical classroom, reducing potential time for exploring RBL. Of course, extra teaching earns the teacher extra income; RBL would reduce or erase that source, but one must not forget that the teacher earns a salary for teaching.

My point is that we introduce progressive concepts but fail to sustain or develop such to maximum benefits. Even at the tertiary level, RBL remains a foreign concept. Many teachers limit learners to plagiarised hand-outs, or books written by self or friends. If learners research and demonstrate new ideas in feedback activity, or purchase not the prescribed material, they might actually fail the course or get a minimum grade. Instead of exposing students to extensive intellectual material, apostles of handouts starve students of overabundant learning resources.

In fact, most teachers are not RBL savvy, and they deny learners the opportunity to explore such. Yet, 21^st Century education is technologically-based; Google is a rich resource. The painful conclusion for one is that as a people, we are not dynamic. We steadfastly choose to live in the past, rendering the present static in order to fulfil immediate desires. Tomorrow will never come. We profess a concern for children and youth but demonstrate pure selfishness. Thus when an innovative idea is introduced, it is sabotaged.

May be I lack attention, but I am yet to hear the Ministers of Education and Finance emphasize the RBL dimension in the double-track dialogue. One minister lamely argued that the students would be in the house fulltime, but for the Free SHS intervention; therefore, the double-track system gives them an option to halve the time they would otherwise spend at home. Wrong. The time spent at home cost the tax payer. Besides, if the right structures are not put in place, the six months in school would be entirely wasted. Please intervene with RBL!

The double-track move should be a collaboration between parents, community and state. The average contemporary Ghanaian parent continues to offload parental training to the teacher. The former bombards children with material things, neglects training. Elsewhere, home-schooling has become a trend, because parents are wary of the poor school environment. In Ghana, parents fall over themselves to secure boarding facilities for children, glossing some implications. It is about time the Government asked such parents: How have you neglected your child(ren)? That should be followed with this statement: it is about time you assumed your role as a parent; oversee six months of learning, because your children would be assessed.

Government is going to share responsibility of children with parents and community; it is ensuring that the resources invested in are utilised in training children. Government is gradually complementing the physical classroom with the virtual one. Learners would be in charge of their learning. So the six months at home would be RBL time. If the Government has not planned to that extent, then a crucial gap must be filled immediately.

If we had a national database that could tell the income level of parents and guardians, those in good income brackets would be required to purchase computers and Internet connectivity for their wards; the state and other stakeholders would supply the real needy, so that all learners would receive the full complement of RBL. Currently, every Ghanaian parent would cry to Government for a computer. There must be a way out. The beauty of RBL is that endless learning opportunities could be tracked by both teacher and learner, be independently, ethically assessed. The planning has probably not covered the full extent of RBL, but what prevents us from packaging it now? The double-track system a potential waste? No, it is the potential pathway to 21^st Century education for Ghana, and worth every strategic investment.