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!