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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 21st
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 18th Century, flung it into the 21st
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!
