Mawuenyega Proves BECE Cert is World Class

11-Year-Old Seyram Mawuenyega Proves BECE Cert is World Class

IMANI Ghana’s Franklin Cudjoe was impressed beyond measure when he read about Julie Wangombe, the gorgeous 22 year old who authored the victory speech of newly-elected president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyetta. Cudjoe, a World Economic Forum young global leader, was impatient to join the world of letters to toast the birth of another African intellectual. And as typical of the BBC, they managed to scoop a delicious interview from the young speechwriter. In her native Kenya, Julie remains an unusually gifted poet and a communications generalissimo who may have the same prospects as former Barack Obama speechwriter, Jon Favreau, another superkid. He was affectionately called Favs in the White House. He has since left speechwriting to try his hands at screenwriting and consultancy.

Incidentally, Favreau was 22 when he started writing presidential speeches. Maybe 22 is the new 40. At 11, however, Ghanaian pupil Seyram Mawuenyega may be too young to attempt a world class speech. Not many 11 year olds around the world, except perhaps in the MENSA Club, may have the competence to string together sentences to capture votes and win political hearts. But if Seyram’s recent letter to the GFA, which was published on some Ghanaian websites, and most prominently on myjoyonline, was indeed penned by the youngster, then I am happy to promote him as our candidate for MENSA, the club of the world’s most intelligent people whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population (98 percentile)

The first comment on myjoyonline suggested “no kid on this planet could [would] be able to write a letter like this. If his father has something to criticise, please go ahead and don’t be a coward and inject your things [thoughts] through a kid who has no idea what the letter says”. Other commentators shared the suspicion that somebody much older may have authored the missive and slapped the lad’s name on it to give him some publicity. Words and expressions such as ‘resurgence’, ‘allegedly mercilessly’, ‘prolific’ ‘still needs to be shown the ropes’, ‘took a significant dip in form’ etc do not come readily to 11 year olds. Seyram asks “Wouldn’t you be frustrated if you were a senior member of the squad and you were warming the benches whilst a bunch of young players that still need to be shown the ropes were in your place?”

If the above example seems too mature for an 11 year old, consider what Seyram writes about Asamoah Gyan: “The first and biggest mistake he made was trading the thrill and experience of the English Premier League to join Al Ain in the UAE.” It was because of this mistake that “he took a significant dip in form and it showed at the recent AFCON 2013.” The letter had been organised in a very mature and professional manner, with a particularly phenomenal use of good register, collocation and mechanical accuracy. Where adults would struggle with the appropriate form of the verb in a sentence, Seyram was fluid and very fluent with the use of complex adjectives and adverbial phrases. His transitions were also very smooth.

At 11, Seyram may be in class 6 or JHS1, or for the superkid JHS2. He would be writing the BECE very soon. We have no doubt Seyram’s BECE would have a lot of value, contrary to what former Education minister Prof Dominic Fobih, says. Comparing the BECE to the former Middle School certificate, the former minister says the “JHS certificate is not worth anything and it also darkens the future of the holders by giving them the impression that they hold certificate but it has no value.” He is calling on authorities to phase out a system that has prepared the likes of Seyram to function very well in the midst of scare resources and other difficulties.

When I was 15, I couldn’t write as good as Seyram. The O’Level system has been praised as grooming mature students who were not only intelligent but also very responsible. The JHS student today looks quite smaller and sometimes immature, but they are not intellectually less prepared than their seniors of the old system. I would think the kids are sharper today than we were. Reading may have improved and teachers today are better compensated (we can never properly remunerate teachers because their service is invaluable) than our bicycle-riding scholars of yesterday. The times are even harder today than they were 15 years ago, but the average teacher can look forward to owning a car. In our time, all they could afford was a bicycle. The blue car under the tree belonged to the school bursar.

The argument has been about labels instead of standards. We would build a great country if we prepare every 11 year old to write with Seyram’s intellectual composure, BECE or ECBC. Prof Fobih suggests that the JHS is bad because we are forced to make the SHS the ‘mandatory terminal point’ instead of the JHS. Well, the SHS may have its own faults but their products are quite competitive. Hindsight is always a winner. If we do revert to the old system, we may still have a few problems looking back. Anyhow, the quality of the product is the value. It just happens that a filter would always leave an imprint on anything it filters. Let’s make Seyram is our standard.

Kwesi Tawiah-Benjamin writes from Ottawa, Canada. He is a journalist.

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