Textbooks & Teaching /Learning Materials: The Narrative Must Change

I have written a number of times that, currently, we do not have education in Ghana; rather, we have commercialization of information and superficiality. I have taken that stance due to the entrenched position we have taken to practise dated systems of learning rather than adopting contemporary dynamic approaches to teaching/learning. If I myself had any doubt about that position, this nauseous argument about teaching/learning materials for the revised curriculum has cemented my opinion.

In the last month, I have had to listen to personalities who should be savvy about education verbally flog the Government about failing to supply textbooks and teaching/learning materials. Metro TV featured a former Deputy Minister of Education who echoed that sentiment. A key personality from GES has rightly explained that curriculum revision does not mean a complete overhauling of the contents. Though changes have been introduced, the bulk of content has remained.   I expected the former minister, who stated that new textbooks were printed for the schools in 2016, to explain to the host that those textbooks could still be used to teach. However, he also wailed the absence of textbooks.

I have a question for all those screaming for hardcopy textbooks: Where were you when education moved into the 21^st Century? The absence of hardcopy texts in no way obstructs effective teaching/learning. The foreword to the new English syllabus states in part: The curriculum encourages the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for teaching and learning – ICTs as teaching and learning materials (emphasis mine). Wherein lies the justification for the hullaballoo for hardcopy textbooks? The World Wide Web has enabled the placement of enormous quality, innovative, interactive teaching/learning materials on the Internet, which information proactive teachers can access directly.

There are authentic, open online learning resources which are available to teachers across the globe. Google has brought virtual reality to the classroom. The Google Classroom App makes teaching/learning interesting, innovative, interactive. The community dialogue that accompanies the App. enables teachers to share experiences across the world. Questions and challenges can be shared for constructive, innovative responses. Edutopia and Empatico are similar sites that offer a lifeline to teachers across school levels. Enthusiastic teachers take advantage of such resources to improve teaching and classroom interaction. There is opportunity for teachers to explore synchronous or asynchronous channels in the virtual classroom. Indeed, there is no shortage of teaching/learning materials. However, there is a list of qualities in acute shortage: Innovation, commitment, enthusiasm, diligence, dynamism, critical perspectives, all capped by failure to utilize resources effectively.

One heavily underutilized resource is the android or iPhone which any teacher can afford these days. Through that medium, a teacher can access online resources to teach the new syllabus. Parents can guide their children to utilize the former’s phone (or computers) to research good learning materials online. All the telecommunication companies in the country claim variously that where there is a sky, their networks can be accessed. This is the time to test their claim. If teachers/learners are unable to access the syllabus and helpful materials online from location, the telecoms, not the Government, should be taken to task.

One must deconstruct the situation in order to get the actual picture. For many a Ghanaian teacher, teaching implies a physical classroom with a writing board. It is difficult to imagine other alternatives; such elements prefer to maintain the status quo. Therefore, the possibility of online teaching/learning resources is the remotest reality. The absence of textbooks implies failure. Additionally, hardcopy textbooks has financial implications for a cross-section of the publishing industry. Materials can be sold online, but given our penchant for sticking to old ways, one wonders whether such options have occurred to publishing stakeholders.

If one brought back the Effective or Practical English books or the Primary English Courses, one could teach the new syllabus effectively. What is needed is a teacher’s ability to adapt text to contemporary situations, locate lessons in pragmatic analysis, help learners to apply text in practical terms in order to make meaning out of them. Such measures would equally ensure that learners take the centre, initiate some of the learning processes. In such situations, the teacher becomes the facilitator who helps the learner to develop a sense of autonomy in the learning process. That is the innovation the system needs to become education again.

New textbooks would not automatically imply teacher innovation, commitment, as well as learner enthusiasm. If the apathy does not change, nothing would. Above all, if we do not abjure commercialization of information in order to target knowledge, we would continue to dig our own graves. The only way to reverse the degeneration of education is to yank the system from the clutches of the 18^th Century, flung it into the 21^st Century, so that we can pursue the Knowledge Economy. Only the strongest act of willpower can achieve that. The challenge is not about the absence of hardcopy textbooks and teaching/learning materials. It is the test of educating the heart and mind for human-centred ideas that promote the quality of human existence through dignity, diligence, determination, and responsibility. Let’s work towards changing the narrative to that effect.  Our call!

Technical University-Government Impasse: The Leverage

One frustrating aspect of industrial action is that any union member who does not support the call is generally considered dissenting. However, it can be unjust to succumb to such pressure and echo union’s call for strike, especially, when crucial ethical, professional issues are completely sidelined in the quest for better staff remuneration. The full-blown industrial action by technical universities (TU) ought to be analysed, not only from employee-employer point of view, but also from the perspectives of the customer i.e. the learner or  other primary stakeholder – and by association the parents, tax-payer, industry, community. No one is averse to some extra money, yet the ground for demanding such money should align with classroom reality and currency of body of knowledge being imparted to the 21^st Century vocational learner.

The most worrying part of industrial action by learning institutions remains that it is almost always motivated by staff needs. The harsh silencing of the customer – the taught – lends an ironic dimension to industrial actions. In business ethics, the customer is always right, yet each time, learning institutions and governments flesh out monetary issues – the former seeking more, the latter seeking less payment, the taught is not consulted. Unfair! We are dealing with the millennial generation, which is very distrustful of authority due to such dubiousness and neglect. That generation considers authority selfish; within the educational context, both teacher and administrator constitute part of the authority that the millennial generation distrusts.

And they have several reasons for suspicion within the context of this layered industrial action: The Technical Education Workers Union (TEWU) is agitating that it has not been part of the negotiation. Administrators also have their own dimension. Meanwhile, the negotiation has gotten to the stage where Government feels it has made overly concessions to the TUs, who in turn are not satisfied with the offer on the table. This could have been the stage where the strike could have been halted, so that Government’s offer could be referred to TU constituents. They could have discussed the offer at length for an informed consensus on acceptance or otherwise. By this rejection, the representatives have, in a way, disenfranchised constituents.

Ironically, all the major stakeholders but the taught are speaking; who speaks for the silenced learner? Since there has been no reference to the actual working environment, pertinent questions need to be asked in order to place the industrial action in the appropriate professional context: What type of curricula are being run by the TUs? Are learners being taught what they need to survive in the 21^st Century workplace? How are learners being taught? Are TU classrooms experiential learning spaces where competent knowledge is created and shared between the teacher and the taught? Are TU curricula based on the global Knowledge Economy? How has 21^st Information Technology impacted both theoretical and practical instruction in the TU classroom? What is industry opinion of the skills TU graduates present to the workforce? It is time the learner spoke.

If these questions drove the negotiations, it would imply a simultaneous consideration of the needs of both teacher and taught, which would be the ethical approach. The educational system has continued to be teacher-centred, so learners constantly get shortchanged. The unassertive nature of the average Ghanaian means that the marginalized youth might not muster the courage to question the status quo. Therefore, the grown-ups must do the ethical thing by making students’ learning interests premium in the negotiation for better staff remuneration.

Currently, the TU classroom is bogged down by a poor research culture, though technical universities elsewhere are known by high-powered research which continues to improve quality existence across the globe. Universities in other communities are championing the Knowledge Economy in their classrooms, directing learners to quality researched information on the World Wide Web. In the Ghanaian TU classroom, a cross-section of teachers rather limit learners to scanty information in local books, emaciated material labelled handouts, which learners must procure. Even though students pay ICT fee, the TUs do not invest significantly in ICT to enable teaching/learning to be immersed in technology. Furthermore, many teachers blissfully operate in the traditional classroom only, technologically disempowering learners across human endeavours.

The World Bank has emphasized that jobs anchor economic growth, so nations must invest in quality education and training, backgrounded by the digital economy. Ghanaian universities are failing in that direction – NABCO is a living proof. The teeming mass unemployment is another constant reminder. Clearly, there is an urgent need for a holistic approach to TU issues, and special emphasis must be placed on training and curricula.

One wonders why the TUs did not fight the NCTE academic audit, a bizarre activity which precipitated this migration. Apart from the sad fact that it did not use industrial parameters, in some cases, some auditors lied blatantly about teacher’s qualifications. The TU community did not fight the disservice. Moreover, the technician career is being rapidly extinguished, which implies an eventual extinction of hands-on training. Indeed, Stakeholders are collaborating to kill the job creation potential of the TUs. Consequently, disillusioned youth receive dubious divine calls, become scammers and other high-tech fraudulent elements, and we are collective victims. If we nurture the TU system, we protect ourselves, our children, and our property.

This is no time to drag issues that benefit TU staff only; address all issues that could compel the TUs to invest in the learning human capital. Invest in 21^st Technological education. They say the only language government understands is strike. Conversely, the only language the people understand is money; therefore, migrate the entire TU system. Government has its part, TU administrative machineries have their role, teachers have the key responsibility, and students have a duty. Let all play their roles simultaneously for a balanced well-being. Our collective call!

Technical University: Make Pedagogy Effective, and Attractive

In 2010, I was disappointed when the then Minister of Education, Mr. Teteh-Enyo, directed the military to prepare tents for possible accommodation of secondary school students. It was one of the consequences of the late President Mills’ decision to prematurely reverse the four-year secondary school policy to three years, swelling the intake for that year. Many Ghanaians had cautioned Government against the reversal, because the nation needed time to determine the effectiveness or otherwise of the four-year system. Backed by the National Association of Graduate Teachers, the Government, true to its campaign promise, reversed the policy. That decision did not augur well for Ghanaian education.

In 2019, I am apprehensive that the Government is negotiating with the Technical Universities to migrate the latter’s  salary to university level, which migration is leaving out effective pedagogy, hands-on training, learner competency, despite efforts to centralize Technical/Vocational Education. Currently, TUs largely operate dated curricula, so most graduates do not meet industrial standards. TUs compete with traditional universities in developing programmes, when they should be tailoring programmes to specific industrial needs. Even industry is wary of the porous skills TU graduates present to the workplace.

Subsequently, it is imperative to upgrade, not only TU salaries but the entire learning system, if this nation has even the slightest hope of getting that hollow conversion from polytechnic to TU fleshed out to competency-based training (CBT). That goal is effectively hampered by the current high numbers in the classrooms, the marginal input of industry in curriculum design and implementation, poor classroom methodologies, poor investment in teaching/learning resources, to name these. Consequently, competent hands-on training is currently endangered.

Quality has rapidly disappeared from the system, paving the way for commercialization of information.  Elsewhere, institutions design curriculum to meet changing times, leaner and industrial needs. Classroom knowledge is geared toward resource-based learning, current turbulence of climate change, migration, polarization of wealth and abject poverty, youth unemployment, population increase, gender inequality, international relations, extremism, to mention these. Other nations ensure that learners are prepared for the Knowledge Economy, accessible through the Internet. Information Communication Technology enables teachers/learners to positively navigate the turbulent global tides for competent skills and knowledge. Yet, the initiators of the conversion failed to invest in the TUs, the dynamism required to accentuate competent knowledge in the prevailing socio-cultural, geo-political and economic reality.

Driven by individual, community, national, and global demands, education elsewhere is learner-centred, not teacher-centred; neither is it exploited for political power. Learning institutions package pragmatic knowledge which might render graduates assets to community, rather than reduce the human agency of learners.  In certain communities, governments rely on learning institutions to drive development by adapting school curricula to generational, industrial, global needs and aspirations. That dynamism is missing from Ghanaian vocational education.

Logically, the teeming unemployed numbers of both lay and educated youth, the rapid increase in crime rate across the country should compel the TUs to design innovative long- and short-term programmes that endow various categories of learners with sustainable marketable skills. There must be a shift from the old, boring dry classroom method where teachers talk and students listen. Contemporary youth are labelled digital natives, hence, professional programmes run by the TUs should be oriented by information technology, which requires strategic investment, which investment is manageable due to annual IT fees paid by students.

Additionally, TUs have also received a big helping hand through the national digitization programme; the institutions should tap the digital database for classroom simulation. It is time that Ghanaian TUs replicated the technological transformation of the blackboard which has resulted in appreciable flexibility in higher education. Furthermore, Google has brought virtual reality to the institutional doorstep; the Google classroom is a super space for synchronous and asynchronous interaction. There are numerous other technological interventions currently being explored by dynamic educational institutions for effective teaching/learning approaches, even as industry offers glimpses into new, adaptable technological openings.

Yet, many TU classrooms are not spaces which effectively utilize technology to provide life-long learning skills to learners. Many teachers fail to take advantage of learning materials and communities, available online, which continue to inject so much currency into classroom approaches. Worst of all, a cross-section of teachers limit learners to scanty, poorly-packaged information, instead of directing learners to the vast quality information available online. To a large extent, information is dumped on learners, who simply memorize and reproduce such for marks. In the Vocational/Technical classroom, that approach is a rich recipe for dysfunctional graduates; that is our current location.

Amidst this regressive reality, TU salaries are being migrated in isolation. Unacceptable! There is a cliché among Ghanaian Trade Unions that the only language government understands is strike. Conversely, the only language unions understand is money. Therefore, why is the Government not driving a very hard bargain to compel the TUs to transform their classrooms into learner-centred spaces where teachers impart 21^st Century knowledge? 

The oversight bodies are just as culpable; the academic audit conducted by the NCTE, which catapulted the migration process was as baffling as it was sad. It neither focused on instructional nor industrial parameters. Institutions elsewhere treasure instructors who possess knowledge across disciplines; the auditors slighted a cross-section of such teachers. Consequently, the audit has actually deepened the theoretical trend of the TUs at a time when they desperately need to enrich hands-on training.  

Technical/Vocational Education has been labelled a disadvantaged relative of grammar education. No country lives that statement better than Ghana, the only losers being the youth, supposedly being prepared for the mantle of future leadership. It is improper to systematically focus on the well-being of teachers to the neglect of learners. The migration should simultaneously benefit teachers and the taught. If the nation genuinely believes that Technical/Vocation Education can snatch the youth from the doldrums that make them highly susceptible to anti-social behaviour, let effective pedagogy be Government’s bargaining tool in the current TU salary migration negotiation.

Technical University: Situate Education in the 21st Century

For their final year practical project, a group of engineering students designed and assembled a two-seater vehicle, expected to enhance movement of security personnel on campus. They used scrap metal for the body work, demonstrating waste upcycling. That the learners identified needs in their community and attempted to address such is a target of technical universities, also an expectation Technical/Vocational Education. That the students felt a sense of achievement was so obvious. The elation in their voices was infectious, just as it was refreshing to observe the happiness on their faces as they explained the processes and challenges they experienced whilst working on the project. After congratulating them and sharing their happiness, I asked two pragmatic questions:

What powered their vehicle? “Petrol”, they responded. I continued: In the era of fossil fuel emission, climate change what could have been the best source of energy for their vehicle? They answered: “Electricity”. I could tell immediately that my questions had prompted them to re-think their project. I then advised them that if they revisited and worked assiduously on the concept, targeting electricity, they may even get a collaboration from a car company. I wondered if the supervisor had raised the issues above. They just might have produced the institution’s first electric car. That would have been a feat for that technical university.

                            

Student project in 2019, powered by petrol

Surprisingly, among the teachers of the department are auto-electricians, engineering designers who could have spearheaded an electric car project, an auto-engineer explained to me. He furthered that the institution’s sculpture department, which utilizes fibre products could have utilized that for the body. The welding section could have taken care of the fabrication. This could, indeed, have been an opportunity for a multi-departmental collaboration in applied research. Why did the institution’s Office for Research and Innovation not forge that teamwork?

Initially, I was surprised that all the pointers above had eluded project stakeholders; my surprise turned into pain, and then confusion, as to why these young ambitious learners had been guided into missing a golden opportunity to undertake a project that would have been so relevant to our times, and which could have empowered them with competent industrial skills. Furthermore, producing an electric car, which would have emitted water, harmless to the environment, would have indirectly legitimized the current Government’s agenda on climate change. Instead here is one more petrol-fuelled vehicle which will compound carbon monoxide emitted into the atmosphere.

Indeed, the institutional vision and primary targets come into major play here. Has the institution targeted research in electric cars? What is the mandate of the auto-engineering department? Is that department environmentally-conscious? Does the institution align its engineering targets with national, global climate change agenda? Above all, is the institution’s overall curriculum abreast with the times?

Curriculum practice decrees that curriculum should be lived; in other words, school curricula should align with individual, community, national and global needs. Higher education, especially, has major responsibility in charting quality education that solves societal needs in order to lend quality to human existence.  The technical university concept is rooted in utilizing current technology to provide sustainable solution to human needs, to improve quality of life. Ghana continues to benefit immensely from quality research done elsewhere, which has improved the lot of humanity. So how are our learning institutions contributing to such relevant knowledge? The project in question demonstrates how school curricula can yield moribund outcomes, rather than pragmatic ones.

The teaching and environmental implications of the project are huge and do not even align with national and global environmental protection agenda. At the last Climate Change Summit in Austria, the President of Ghana was eloquent about steps Ghana was taking to protect the environment. In a discussion with imminent personalities, he reiterated, amongst other laudable goals, that Ghana will honour the Paris Accord. However, climate change agenda for Ghana cannot be pragmatically pursued without high-powered research from its higher institutions. So when technical universities fail to engage in research that can effectively combat fossil fuel emission, what does that bode for national efforts to mitigate global warming? 

The question becomes even critical when one considers the strenuous efforts of institutions elsewhere aimed at overturning the effects of global warming. The UK has already launched its first hydrogen powered train, in its bid to address climate change; University of Edinburg is a major stakeholder. On a related issue, Germany is going to phase out diesel vehicles in 2020; an engineer tells me that would pre-empt NOx particles from harming the Oxone Layer. Similar research from various communities has yielded diverse innovations for environmental protection. If a technical university is not actively engaged in research that directly addresses climate change, the least it can do is stop producing equipment that could harm the environment, thus, retard society’s progress.

In even worse situations, I have seen technical university projects in which students assemble rickshaw and other tri-cycles, termed pragia and aboboyaa respectively in local parlance, which all run on 2-stroke engines. One engineer shared that recent research in the country has indicated that carbon monoxide emission from one aboboyaa is equivalent to emission from 3 vehicles. If that outcome is accurate, the situation is simply unacceptable, and I reiterate that that if we cannot help the world fight climate change, then we should definitely not hold it back.

International automobile companies are establishing assembling plants in the country. We can be sure that they will be bringing along 21^st Century car technology. Are the auto-engineering departments across the technical universities imparting current technological skills that would enable their products to compete in such high-tech companies? Are learners being equipped for auto-mobile functions or menial jobs in the car industry? It is about time the institutions paid serious attention to research, teaching/learning for quality input required to produce graduates who can support and transform the country’s industries. Food for thought.

Gold Coast Security, Stop Abusing Investors’ Trust

Last year, when the Gold Coast Security, under the auspices of GN GROUPE NDUOM, experienced a crisis, the corporate President, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, took a commendable step to allay the fears of clients. He moved from region to region to talk to flustered clients in order to halt the panic withdrawal which threatened to bankrupt the Institution. Dr. Nduom used his credibility to assure patrons that their investment was safe, so they should trust Papa Kwesi Nduom.

A cross-section gave him the benefit of the doubt, because he is Dr. Nduom. That GN still has clients indicate that, somehow, his strategy paid off, even if clients remained with the bank grudgingly due to poor access to funds. He pleaded on trust; some genuinely trusted him. Even at the time, communication was very poor; clients would throng the bank’s premises, and they would hardly get an officer to talk to. The conduct of the employees did not align with the trust message Dr. Nduom was busily propagating. The communication gap has since worsened.

At the beginning of 2019, the bank sent a text to customers that it would be engaging them till March, so they should look forward to an invitation. It is already June, but that process has not commenced. Worst of all, clients cannot access simple services from some locations.

The Takoradi GN premise is closed due to an alleged attack by a frustrated customer. There is a telephone number at the door, and a notice directing clients to use the number. The annoyance is that either the line is busy, or one Alex responds and promises to provide information, which he reneges on, or the line rings without answer. GN has broken clients’ trust.

The antics of the corporate body is creating the impression that instead of a trusted investment entity, investors probably engaged in a Ponzi scheme. I am not an economist; neither have I ever had a head for mathematics, but I was quite good at logic, so I can put and two together. Dr. Nduom cannot, and should not consider not paying back investors’ money. An entity that has been running several businesses in the media, hospitality, book, and banking industries, and which recently entered the education and sports sectors, to name these, all of which utilised investors’ money, cannot claim zero returns for investors, when many of the businesses have been operational through the crisis. In my opinion, GN GROUPE NDUOM’s over-ambition in veering into uncompetitive education and sports projects eventually locked up its funds, gravely inconveniencing investors. 

The Ghana Securities and Exchange Commission should align with the Bank of Ghana to monitor GN’s schedule to protect clients’ investments. The money locked up for over a year should be attracting treasury bills interest, since that was the investment window allocated to the GN. Investors have the right to know the statuses of their investment. GN cannot remain silent and treat clients with such contempt. The silence amounts to stringing customers along.

Dr. Nduom asked clients to trust him and allow him to handle their money. It is time he returned that trust by opening communication lines, and letting investors know that their collective funds are secure in treasury bills. He owes them that. Above all, GN GROUPE NDUOM should let clients have access to their money, as and when they need funds, as well as other services. I ask again, Dr. Nduom, how about you returning the trust you asked for!

Girls in ICT: A Refreshing Diversity in Ghanaian Education

The World Bank is urging all countries to overhaul their educational systems in order to prepare learners for the 21^st Century. Overhauling implies modification of educational content, classroom methodologies, teaching/learning activities, entrenched perceptions, and outmoded practices, among others, for effective practices. Such changes call for nothing short of inter-sectoral collaboration in learning systems. The Girls in ICT initiative encompasses all that. Educational systems have shortfalls; yet, some have managed standards, which compel learners to aspire to excellence across human endeavours. Contrariwise, Ghana’s education lacks standards. Per our practices, we currently do not have education; we have commercialization of information and superficiality. The on-going review might help to rectify that unacceptable situation.

The changes currently occurring in education are actually dictated by global trends which require practical, not moribund, curricula. Indeed, curriculum practice requires a lived curriculum. In other words, a curriculum is only as good as its currency, so that education can adequately prepare younger generations for future responsibility. Throughout human civilizations, education has consistently targeted the refinement of individuals, using available technology. Information Technology has impacted all human activity in the 21^st Century, education being one of the most impacted areas.

Summit chocolate

On May 27^th, 2019, at the Girls in ICT Summit, held in Takoradi to climax technology training for sixty girls in basic education, the Minister of Communication stated that the initiative is countering gender stereotyping in Ghanaian education, opening IT avenues for girls. To ensure that learners practise the knowledge gained, the Ministry provided all with laptops. Additionally, the best ten learners received modems for Internet connectivity – for a duration. The best three learners got a bonus financial reward: The second girl received GH¢1,000, whilst the two learners who secured first position received GH¢2,000 each. There is a concurrent mentorship programme to help nurture “a can do spirit” among girls. That the Ministry is collaborating with various sectors including education, telecommunication, information, Ghana Code, Cocoa Processing is highly commendable.

The multi-sectoral approach lends the initiative an integrated dimension that might give it its sustaining stem. The 2007 educational reform introduced ICT as a core subject, but it did not integrate its resource implementation and execution. Then it was a subject for computer literacy; currently, the sectoral integration is diversifying IT, rendering it a versatile tool in human capital development.

Furthermore, the initiative is indirectly addressing a daunting challenge of the contemporary Ghanaian classroom, bringing novelty to a system hooked on physical classroom interaction. The Girls in ICT initiative makes it possible for learners to utilize virtual learning spaces which, properly utilized, can endow the girls with learning autonomy. Shared comments indicated that the girls appreciate the hands-on learning. They learnt programming language, how to design website and application software, all through practise, hence, experiencing a clean break from the heavy doses of (extra) classes, writing abstract notes, memorizing such for examination – then promptly forgetting all afterwards. Now, they are actually excited about learning.

That excitement would motivate serious girls to put in extra learning time for improved knowledge. Every minute spent learning is time away from gossiping, overly socializing with the opposite sex, which might lead to unwarranted intimacy, which may lead to unwanted pregnancy, which may lead to dropping out of school to further explode the Ghanaian population. Every minute spent learning implies advancing in knowledge, which could genuinely empower the girls intellectually, giving them opportunity to choose a solid career path for economic independence. A solid career, buttressed by a sound economic status, makes a girl an assertive, dignified individual who can speak for self and others; such a female is an asset to community in all endeavours. Above all, a woman with dignity would earn her own living, not depend on men, nor resort to fraud, blind faith or occultism for wealth.

In summary, the Girls in ICT initiative is a concept of killing multiple birds with one stone – quality, equal, technology-oriented education, improved classroom methodologies, skill acquisition, fun-learning, among others. The programming and web designing components are actually skill acquisition tools which might render learners competent for industry and/or competitive entrepreneurs. Cyber crime education would instil in the girls critical thinking skills that can sharpen their perceptive powers. In cyber space, learning can be done anywhere, at one’s own pace, physical or intellectual challenges notwithstanding. Finally, here is a practice that can most effectively counter extra classes. Children would happily learn and have fun on computers rather than pay to listen to teachers’ abstract talk. Parents would also save money.

However, the ministries of education and information should remember that all these changes are occurring in a global community operating the Knowledge Economy, made possible largely through the Internet. So there is a huge explosion of information in cyberspace, accessible through the Internet. Stakeholders must be able to decipher quality information from misinformation. To achieve, that, one needs effective literacy and reading skills, a solid foundation of which must be laid at the formative and primary learning stages. Learners who possess porous reading skills might be mediocre, not excellent programmers. Mediocrity does not yield innovation. Therefore, to sustain this initiative, girls – must be nurtured into independent, analytical readers.

The current GES Reader Programme will, hopefully, ensure authentic reading skills for current formative learners. For those already in primary and secondary who cannot read, there is need for a language immersion programme that would enable learners to simultaneously master the skills of speaking, writing, reading and listening, with special emphasis on reading. Parents need to collaborate with government by investing in their children’s learning. In future, the financial reward must be invested as secured educational fund and certificates handed to winners. The entire nation must give its signature to the Girls in ICT initiative to bar any government from discarding it, because it is, basically, about the future of the girl-child – Ghanaian children! It is definitely worth pursuing and sustaining.

Cleanliness: A Matter of Human Psyche

A concerned Ghanaian has wondered how the current leadership can contemplate Accra as the cleanest city when waste is barely managed in the Region. My response: It might take that radical approach to tackle the sanitation crisis in the country, since many Ghanaians behave like ostriches. Elsewhere, it was easy to get residents to commit to safe waste management in order to protect the environment. When it emerged that the environment was in dire straits, those communities resorted to change bad practices for safe ones. They revised ways of doing and acquiring things. They learnt that global warming, resulting from human activities, pose a threat to humanity, and they have since been seeking ways to combat the phenomenon.

A mini bag of harvested compost

I am using “they” because we have not effectively partnered brethren in other communities in fighting global warming. In the last three decades, we have been consistent in poor waste management. From homes, farms, through real estate development to all other industrial spaces, not only have we failed to improve upon old practices, but we have abandoned the good old ways for just littering/dumping. I am painting a gloomy picture from the filth that surrounds us, filth visible in homes, on streets and school compounds, in drains, work places, hospitals, parks, markets. Individual or collective efforts to improve sanitation tends to be swallowed up by the mass stance for poor waste management.

Logically, formal education has been crucial in creating awareness about global warming, continuous sensitization and searching for refined ways of locating and utilizing resources, and as well managing the inevitable waste generated. Education is the reason communities have moved in heaps and bounds in safe, technological waste management. Apparently, there are grave lapses in our educational system, hence, the apathy towards sanitation.

Last year, in one technical university, two accounting students researched the possibility of exploring their skills in agribusiness. They tested the possibility of starting a business in an environment which does not generally support start-ups with financial capital to access raw materials. The research area was vermicomposting. They targeted compost worms and organic compost, both commercial, products. They collected waste from a domestic kitchen, restaurant and a market woman who sells vegetables. For industrial waste, they collected sawdust from a carpentry workshop, all kinds of paper, except glossy ones, from homes and offices.

They nurtured degradable waste through moisture and temperature for six months, at the end of which period, they harvested healthy worms and the mini bag of vermicompost pictured above. Their major obstacle was obtaining sorted waste. No amount of dialogue or orientation would get the restaurants to sort the waste, because they did not have the time. The two committed students had to sort degradable material from a stinky dustbins for six months. However, they were motivated by global communities engaged in vermicomposting. They were elated when they harvested their own worms. The sense of achievement they experienced is completely foreign to majority of contemporary learners.

They bred worms

However, the institution in question does not even have a mechanism for a comparative assessment of student projects through its Office for Research and Innovation. Such a mechanism would be effective in locating innovative waste management approaches, so that the institution can replicate such approaches across the campus. Over time, such initiatives would spill off into the communities. That is kind of practical approach needed to engage all waste generators in the sanitation journey. It would also be a very effective means to address youth unemployment.

Targeting the cleanest city is a clarion call for every waste generator in the country to become part of waste management. Learning institutions must champion that call. Waste management is an enormous responsibility; therefore, people who have hitherto been apathetic to waste must be gently initiated into a responsible waste management culture. Education is key.

So questions need consideration: Have learning institutions created a sustainable path for safe, innovative waste management? In spite of the numerous mushrooming programmes in engineering, environmental studies, technology, resource management, how many universities or tertiary institutions practice waste sorting and recycling? Have engineering programmes collaborated to invent operational recycling plants? Do projects which demonstrate innovation in waste management get support? How many institutions have programmes in technological waste management, with what impact? In other words, do we live our curriculum?

If we dared ourselves, we could use these questions to evaluate the relevance of curriculum across secondary and tertiary institutions. Have such impacted learners’/societal attitude towards the environment? Safe waste management has implications for our very existence on this planet.

Both creationists and evolutionists accept that oxygen anchors human existence. The fact that our trees absorb the carbon dioxide we exhale, process and send it back to us as oxygen situates our very existence in cleanliness. From my creationist perspective, if the Creator had left photosynthesis in the hands of humans, we would be extinct by now, advertently or inadvertently, through our own works. Thankfully, a superior intelligent force pre-empted that by placing photosynthesis in the hands of nature. Therefore, the ozone layer might be deplete somewhat, but the planet’s supply of oxygen remains constant, and we are!

In effect, any attempt at cleanliness is an attempt to follow nature’s footprint in preserving quality existence. Therefore this mass indifference to filth must be eschewed. Targeting the cleanest city implies a holistic approach from domestic through all segments of society. Small roles would culminate in major roles which would spread responsibility for all across Ghana, not just Accra. Targeting the cleanest city amidst a sanitation crisis is a bold dream by a gutsy doer, who apparently, expects fellow country people to be conscientious doers. And doers we must become, because as long as we are engulfed by filth, we have no claim to human dignity!

Ghanaian Education: A Superficiality

My position: The worst thing an educational institution can do is to fill its classrooms with unmotivated students. Teachers who have genuine desire to help such learners face a brick wall when getting such students to work. Let me illustrate: We started second semester lecturers on Monday 28th January, 2019. At 6.45pm on Sunday the 27th, I got a call from the rep. of a class I was scheduled to meet at 7am the following day. She asked me if I would attend the lecture. I told her that I would. On Monday the 28th, I left the lecture room at 9.17am. No one showed up, not even the rep.
I am describing a struggling level 200 class. One of the essay topics for the end-of-semester examination was this: " How is industrial attachment a three-pronged winning medium? They spent six weeks in industry during the long vacation. During the semester, I forwarded a link to an objective paper on industrial attachment to the class. Their scripts indicated to me that they did not read the article. 
On the day they wrote the exam., the Head of department met and informed me that a cross-section of the candidates, led by a weepy rep. stormed her office that my questions were difficult. Regarding the question above, they complained that I did not teach them. I explained to the head that they needed to understand the metaphor in order to have been able to answer the question. She agreed. I told her that they were using their porous comprehension skills to make me a bad teacher. I added that I would sue the class for defamation of character. When the rep called me in December, I told her the same thing. The departmental assistant registrar has since been giving me the cold shoulder.
When I narrated the story to the Academic Registrar, he opined that if I had asked them to explain the advantages of industrial attachment, they would have been ok, but since I molded the question a bit, they were thrown off balance. The best comment came from the Dean of the Faculty: "Quality is an issues eh". On Monday, I made sure that the two knew about the absentee class.
In my opinion, there is nothing more pathetic than learners who refuse to learn yet scramble for marks. They were not ashamed of their ignorance; their main concern was failing the paper. I had told them in class that I don't dash marks, so they had to malign me.
Per my tradition, on Monday, I had taken their scripts, because I wanted them to know their performance. Alongside, I would have read the marking scheme to them to enable them to know where they went wrong, so that they could avoid similar mistakes in the future. But they are not interested in feedback.; they just chase marks. Education in this country has been reduced to a mere superficiality, pursuit of certificates, not knowledge. The crazy teacher who attempts to make learners study becomes a pariah.
So tell me, Folks, what motivation do I have to help the class to correct examination mistakes when they don't care? Can I force a horse to drink? My Form 3 history Teacher, Senior Rex, gave us a wise saying every time he came to our class. I remembered this on Monday: "He[she] who knows and knows not that he[she] knows is asleep. Wake him[her]up. He[She] who knows not, and knows not that he[she] knows not, is a fool. Leave him[her] be". 
Should I not apply this wise saying?