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?

Developing Capacity of University Teachers: A Holistic Approach

The decision of the Ministry of Education to compel non-PhD university lecturers in the country to pursue PhD in their respective academic areas is a move to follow best practices in education. University is the highest level of learning; logically, teachers should aspire to the height of knowledge in order to be able to impart to learners accurate, sophisticated knowledge, through the best possible classroom approaches. In universities elsewhere, PhD holders are likely to receive tenure position in a faculty; non-PhD holders might be employed on contract basis. Therefore, the leeway given non-PhD holders to upgrade is as humane a gesture as it is pragmatic. If the contracts of all non-PhD holders were terminated immediately, the institutions would wobble, and national investment would be wasted.

Despite its appeal, the Ministry should not focus solely on PhD certificates; rather, it must target a learner-centred system. Hence, the Ministry should not roll out one blanket under which all institutions would pursue capacity building.  Traditional universities should pursue a certain line of intellectual development, while technical universities embark on a practical-oriented human resource development. The article now focuses on the latter.

The contemporary world operates the Knowledge Economy, so we must focus on acquired knowledge and applying such effectively for learner empowerment. Education enables communities to train young generations for intellectual, socio-cultural, economic, geo-political advancement, to mention these. The unemployment and sanitation crisis in the country, apathy towards the environment, unethical behaviour which plunges the nation into debt, nauseous religious practices, lust for money, and aversion for study/work – to mention these – among the youth are major indicators that the training system has failed.

Currently, education in Ghana, largely, embodies commercialization of information and ostentation. From kindergarten to the university, a cross-section of teachers and instructors, even institutions devise innovative ways to siphon money from learners, rather than pursue and share knowledge. Subsequently, the explosion of capacity building in recent decades has not necessarily yielded expected advancement in applied research, effective training, solid skill acquisition, and poverty reduction – especially, among the youth.

Possessing a PhD certificate does not offer any guarantee that the holder can impart knowledge effectively, in theory and practice. Many Ghanaians study abroad, in excellent academic environment. Upon completion, they bring the certificates home and leave best practices abroad. Such elements might not guide learners to accurate knowledge and career paths. The certificate is useful in the technical classroom only if it advances balanced intellectual pursuit, skill acquisition.

Currently, some PhD holders have deficit knowledge in practical instruction, which constitutes a crucial chunk of competency-based training. In fairness, they may not solely to be blamed, because the system might not have equipped them for hands-on training. Thus, even a PhD holder needs technology education to be effective in hands-on training. In fact, technical education is faltering, because many of the teachers are not equipped for the technical classroom.

To deviate from that destructive trend, therefore, the approach to capacity building should be holistic so as not replicate the skewed human resource development pattern of recent decades. For starters, all non-professional teachers should go through the diploma in education programme, which would include educational technology, which prepares teachers for practical instruction. Those in IT, engineering, applied arts and sciences should be able to utilise job sheet, tax and skill analyses for effective hands-on training. Teachers in communication, entrepreneurship and the businesses should explore authentic teaching/tasks, case studies and role plays to situate teaching/learning in simulated practical environment. Then evaluation for promotion would be based on teachers’ competency in both theory and practice. Let us pursue best practices.

One adverse effect of the skewed human resource development has been the neglect of the instructorship and technician groups. Ideally, lecturers should handle theory, instructors would handle practical instruction, and technicians handle workshops and laboratories. However, career progression of instructors and technicians has not received the necessary attention. Currently, instructors can progress up to chief instructor and receive the equivalent of a senior lecturer’s salary. Technicians’ advancement ends at chief technician, who receive the equivalent of a lecturer’s salary. Logically, they upgrade, move to industry for better remuneration or apply for a lecturer's position for vertical review. Consequently, both groups are gradually becoming endangered in the technical university system, which endangerment also implies a rapid extinction of pure hands-on training, the distinguishing feature of the Technical/Vocational system.

A spill-over effect is that those at post may not have acquired current technological skills; additionally, they may be operating in poorly-equipped laboratories and workstations. Since these support training, they may actually be imparting training based on old practices or concepts. Even new technology programmes might be still seeped in old methods and practices, which work environment would demotivate personnel. And products might not be adept technologically and might underperform in industry. NABCO is proof. Therefore, effective restructuring of the instructorship, technician career paths should constitute a crucial part of the proposed capacity building of teachers in technical universities.

In reality, a technical/vocational system skewed towards practice can survive, but when training is skewed towards theory, the prospect of solid skill acquisition becomes elusive. About two decades ago, HND graduates handled HND courses. It was possible because those graduates possessed solid practical skills, which they were able to impart to trainees. In the 21^st Century, the nation needs teaching personnel who balance competent instruction in both theory and practice.

The Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary education has lamented the absence of research institutions in the country due to low PhD holders. The proposed capacity building should culminate in the rebirth of technical universities as highly-powered research institutions. Teachers and the taught would be research-oriented, capable operators of the Knowledge Economy.

Technical education should be the ace up the sleeve of Government for changing the tide of the nation. The system should uphold sophisticated skill acquisition programmes that can help to overcome unemployment and cyclical poverty, gender inequality, dependence on aid, to name four. So while targeting PhD for capacity, develop instructors and technicians to enhance practical training. Only a concurrent upgrading of the three groups, targeted investment in technology and training would ensure a sustainable, productive higher technical education.

Technical University in Ghana: An albatross

Technical university (TU) in Ghana has become an albatross for the Ghanaian educational stakeholder. An empowering educational concept, exploited elsewhere for highly-skilled human resources, innovative research and ground-breaking advancement in human endeavours, has become a farce in Ghana due to its false start and porous implementation. Consequently, in name there are TUs, but in principle, content and genuine practices, there is no TU in Ghana, so the benefits of competency and solid skill acquisition evade the nation. Yet, instead of replicating excellent training practices elsewhere, we politicise education, pray incessantly, then scramble for arms from communities which brace austerity to target quality training systems.

TU was expected to be characterised by excellent practices in academic work and the research enterprise. Excellence, supposed to catapult Technical/Vocational Education to a 21^st Century training system. Mr. John Mahama, former president and originator of the technical university concept in Ghana, stated that the conversion was not to be “a label change only”. In his speech to the stakeholders’ consultative forum held in 2015, he stressed principles that would underpin the concept:

The TUs were expected to be peopled by highly-skilled teaching staff and qualified secondary school graduates, both of whom would become engrossed in applied research for quality outcomes across disciplines and vocations. The focus was competency-based training, so small class numbers were targeted – a teacher:student ratio of 1:15 , or at most, 1:25 – per current practice. To buttress the competency aspect, the Technical University Act also enjoins TUs to base instruction in “multiplicity of scientific theories and methodologies …, explore practice-oriented teaching approaches” to equip learners for industry.

Industrial experience was expected to be key. The reference point was Germany, where a minimum of three years’ industrial experience is a requirement for TU instructors. Technology was also expected to be a key support to teaching/learning. Additionally, to support teaching and hands-on training, classrooms, laboratories and practical stations were going to be furnished with sophisticated tools and equipment. Among others, the TU concept is learner-centred, targeting industry-driven curricula, skilled graduates, poverty alleviation among the youth– a reverse of the current situation – many trainees graduate with poor/mismatched, sometimes unemployable skills.

However, the instruction room transformation hardly occurred in the selected polytechnics for the conversion in 2016. Two years later, teacher:student ratio remains unacceptably high. One teacher can handle any number from fifty to hundred, sometimes more. If one gets thirty or forty students, one is so relieved. Only a few programmes satisfy the acceptable teacher:student ratio, and it is not by design but rather due to poor patronage by students. So genuinely, competency-based training has not materialised. Even though technology could somewhat support such big numbers through authentic learning and simulation activities, TU classrooms are not exactly technology-friendly spaces, at least, not by 21^st Century standards; neither is majority of instructors technology-savvy, so teaching/learning is still largely limited to the physical classroom. Some programmes operate dated curricula. Often, students are not exposed to quality intellectual research material

Amidst a TU but no TU reality, the Government is expected to migrate staff of the TUs to the payroll of the universities. The recent strike action by the Technical University Teachers Association of Ghana (TUTAG) was its response to Government’s failure to migrate staff. Better remuneration is desirable, but so is a learner-centred training environment. Therefore, it would it be ethical, strategic, and frugal to simultaneously tackle migration and resourcing TUs to competency levels.

A Holistic Approach

Sadly, the premise for the migration is a continuation of the push and pull trajectory: TUTAG is fixated on joining the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), which is equally preoccupied with keeping TUTAG out. Consequently, instead of targeting hands-on education, both stakeholders have skewed the parameters. While government also struggles for economic foothold, the growing generations are denied intellectual empowerment and 21^st Century industrial skills. I have been labelled a sympathiser of government – not employer – by a cross-section of TUTAG leadership for advocating quality education instead of combat. Interesting times indeed when educators sideline quality.

The recent audit organized by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) is harrow for evaluating instructors of a Technical/Vocational system. Government must not migrate salaries only; it should migrate the entire TU system for a genuine Technical/Vocational Education. NCTE should strategize a holistic auditing tool for practice vis-à-vis the operating document, Acts 922, 974, which prescribe the TU content and regulation. Mr. Mahama should be part of the assessment, so that he can tell the nation clearly what his government packaged for the conversion in 2016.

A holistic approach would include the TU research culture in the audit, to determine its applied relevance to community, and national development agenda. Closely tied to that would be an inquiry of current educational theories and scientific methodologies being explored in the TU classroom, impact of Information Technology. Equally crucial would be an appraisal of TU links with industry, instructors’ currency in their areas of expertise and teaching methods. After two years of operation, TU curriculum should be audited for currency regarding technology-based programmes for learner, community and national, as well as conformity to international standards. In other words, it is crucial to evaluate the entire TU system to ascertain whether it has begun to elevate Technical/Vocational Education, whether it is meeting 21^st Century educational goals, whether it is targeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, effectively addressing skill acquisition needs of the country, making trainees adaptable.

In summary, NCTE must refrain from using traditional university parameters alone to assess TUs, per the current audit. Rather, it should broaden the base to cover industrial standards: Indicators should be effective instruction approaches such as experiential learning, 70:30/60:40 hands-on training/theoretical instruction, and progression for technicians who anchor hands-on training. These would be good pointers to competency-based training, evidence of progress, aspiration for quality, to mention these.

Instead of charting its own professional course, POTAG followed in UTAG’s shadow over the past four decades; the status quo has remained. TUTAG is competing with UTAG over position and ranking, instead of charting a distinct progression path for TU staff, using international Technical/Vocational regulations. It is time for a concerted effort to turn this albatross into the empowering training concept that it is. A holistic academic audit would be key.