Ghana’s Educational System - Factional Elitism versus Functional Illiteracy, Fact or Fiction?

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kellics 10 years ago

you are spot on with this write-up.

you are spot on with this write-up.
francis kwarteng 10 years ago

Dear Dr. Kwesi,

Spot on. Brilliant as usual.

Thanks.

Dear Dr. Kwesi,

Spot on. Brilliant as usual.

Thanks.
ghanaman 10 years ago

This is an elaborate review -and one of several other laudable attempts- of the educational system. What is needed is to change the status quo. Congrats, Kwesi.

This is an elaborate review -and one of several other laudable attempts- of the educational system. What is needed is to change the status quo. Congrats, Kwesi.
Comment 250 10 years ago

The problem is political parties which is tied to tribalism, false churches which mis-educate people not to reason and ignorant chieftaincy traditions which does not reason.

Sort these and all others will be sorted.

How ...
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The problem is political parties which is tied to tribalism, false churches which mis-educate people not to reason and ignorant chieftaincy traditions which does not reason.

Sort these and all others will be sorted.

How can each party have it own education policy? HOW?

The leaders have no vision or they have a false vision.
Joel 10 years ago

What a wonderful piece of am reticle this is what we need in ghanaweb not those tribalistic insults and dirty writings. By the way after reading this article it. Goes to convince me more that Ghana is a failed state unfortun ...
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What a wonderful piece of am reticle this is what we need in ghanaweb not those tribalistic insults and dirty writings. By the way after reading this article it. Goes to convince me more that Ghana is a failed state unfortunately . So sad.
Jato Kaleo 10 years ago

Ekaabo o o o, oga mi. Ekujo meta...

Where have you been? Defending your thesis before the grey haired professors in your institution? Well, let me first congratulate you on your newly acquired accolade (in addition to all ...
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Ekaabo o o o, oga mi. Ekujo meta...

Where have you been? Defending your thesis before the grey haired professors in your institution? Well, let me first congratulate you on your newly acquired accolade (in addition to all the others).

Your piece is good, you have touched on the very important issues in the debate on education in our Ghana. But...

Yes, I have a big but. I am missing the facts and the figutes for many of your assertions. You have made many but you have not supported them by any evidence - the facts and the figures. You have a very small table of figures about expenditure on education as a percentage of total GDP but it cannot be used to support many of the assertions you make.

Mind you, I am not saying you are telling lies, but without evidence, we cannot be sure. I will give only a few examples. You assert that Ghana used to be a role model for African countries in terms of high levels of education - a position that we have lost. Kwesi, can you really support that assertion with facts and figures? Do you have any indices that show that? You go on to state that Ghana has flung to the far bottom of the global ranking of education. But you didn't cite any statistics to show that that is the case. And here, I suspect that you are making reference to the recent OECD global ranking of the performance of 15 year olds in selected countries including Ghana that shows that our country is last in a list of 76 countries. I don't know if you have seen the full study and I don't see the grounds on which you extrapolate from that study that we are "at the far bottom of the global ranking in education".

Kwesi, perhaps you are right that the schools in Ghana you and I attended are better than today's schools but without the statistical evidence to back up that assertion, we cannot be sure whether it is "fact or fiction".

There are many things happening in education in Ghana today. You rightly mentioned many of them especially the divide between the elite schools and the rest. But these make the problem more complex than the generalised statements that we may come up with.

You did well in your proffered solutions by directly itemising them. But I suspect that you have not fully acquainted yourself with the ACTUAL efforts being made in the ministry. In some cases, it is more a matter of implementing current policies effectively than that of not knowing what to do. And there are many private schools and institutions that are running programmes leading to international exams. I don't know that they have been prevented from doing so.

And we haven't touched higher education. That is another story for another day.

Once more, welcome back to these pages...
Abubaar M. M. Azindoo 10 years ago

Thanks for the great piece Doc. It is, indeed, a product of excellent reasoning and balanced analysis. It is also well-researched, timely, and relevant.

However, permit me to add that editing is inadequate. This observati ...
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Thanks for the great piece Doc. It is, indeed, a product of excellent reasoning and balanced analysis. It is also well-researched, timely, and relevant.

However, permit me to add that editing is inadequate. This observation is rationalized by an Error of Concord contained in the last sentence of paragraph 15: "...OUTCOMES of education IS not what one will expect in a Middle Income country like Ghana." (Emphasis mine).

The subject of the sentence is "OUTCOMES", which is plural. So, in compliance with the Rule of Concord, the subject must agree with the plural verb "ARE" not the singular verb "IS".

There are other constructions of structual weaknesses in the well argued essay. But I humbly submit that the strength of ideation and logic is more important than the flaws of grammar and pragmatics in the write-up.

Darling brother in media and academia, may I hear your response to the concerns raised? Once again thanks for the wonderful discourse.
MARCUS AMPADU 10 years ago

Dr. K. A. Sakyi, I think it is time for educationists & stakeholders to seriously consider restructuring our education system all together to meet 21 st. century standards.

It is a sad fact that we are not preparing our ...
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Dr. K. A. Sakyi, I think it is time for educationists & stakeholders to seriously consider restructuring our education system all together to meet 21 st. century standards.

It is a sad fact that we are not preparing our young ones to meet 21st. century demands.
Akua Mansa 10 years ago

Excellent write up

What you have written is not lost on the minds on those who lead us but they are embroiled in GREED and FRAUD to stop to think of what is happening to our Poor Nation

DOC - "Who Will Bell the CAT"

...
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Excellent write up

What you have written is not lost on the minds on those who lead us but they are embroiled in GREED and FRAUD to stop to think of what is happening to our Poor Nation

DOC - "Who Will Bell the CAT"

It all boils down to Leadership and at the moment Ghana is Leaderless and rudderless - lost on the sea.

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Ghana’s Educational System - Factional Elitism versus Functional Illiteracy, Fact or Fiction?

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