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The state of
public schools in Ghana
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
The Mayor of Accra’s intention to end the shift system for
public schools in Accra is highly commendable. But the idea that
he could correct this problem with the taking over of unused
public buildings is rather fragile at best.
Ussher Fort
and Accra Community Center, cited as examples, should and must not
be part of this scheme.
The school system has been run on shift basis for the past two
decades or more. This approach has led to some social
ills, truancy and poor education being some of these. What was
meant as stop gap measure has become a permanent feature of our
educational system today. The mayor,
Mr Alfred Vandapuye, is right to seek correction.
But why take over historic landmarks like Ussher Fort and the
Accra Community Center to convert to schools?
As an educationist in his previous professional life, the mayor
must know that the mere sight of Ussher Fort, for instance,
provides more civic or historic lessons in a day than the same
building turned into a school can provide in a life time.
Mr Alfred Vandapuye is right to assume that Ussher Fort and the Accra Community
Center are poorly managed, but wrong in concluding that they
fit his plan for space acquisition for schools. The risk of
turning Ussher Fort over to a succession of rambunctious kids
cannot guarantee its survival as a historical show piece.
The mayor
would be better off looking in another direction for resources
to solve the same space problem. To end up destroying the
historical import and insignia of the two buildings, in the name
of education, is as bad a policy as the one that brought about
the shift system.
A better plan would be if he should target the housing loan of
$10 billion the government has recently secured through
South Korea. This hefty amount will be spent in the
next six years on housing projects. A fraction of this sum ought
to be spent on rehabilitation and construction of school buildings.
After all, education is as important as housing. When you give
people a place to live, where they educate their children should
obviously be a matter of concern, therefore school buildings
must be part of the plan. Just one billion of the total could
easily satisfy the mayor’s ambition to provide school space;
even on a national level. .
Ussher Fort is historic because our independence struggle,
together with our growth as a nation, is wrapped in it. That
alone is a big civic lesson, yet no one went to school in that
building.
Also, I recall the days when the Accra Community Center served
as a recreational center for school kids in the 50s. It was a
social as well as sports center for many kids in the Accra
region. Some of us learned how to play table tennis, badminton
and other sports within the center’s walls.
That was in the 50s. However, the fact of this decade being in
the 2000s should not negate the importance of a social center
like the Accra Community Center, open to all kids from every
social and religious
backgrounds. If the community center stands moribund today, the
best idea will be to restore it to its original purpose.
Proper recreation is an important aspect of growth for a nation and the
Accra Community Center was built purposely to fulfill this need.
Within its walls, kids could gather to learn some social
graces while entertaining themselves.
Our schools are presenting problems now, not solely because of
lack of space, but because of past experiments with its system
and programs. We have reversed many things that used to work
well for schooling our kids.
There used to be a time when you saw a kid, you knew which school
he or she came from because of the uniqueness of the uniform.
Now the uniform is the same for most. A kid can always skip
school and have the shift system for excuse. The worse is, you
have no way of tracing him back to the school he is on a shift
from.
The idea of distinction must also exist for our historic
structures.
Ussher Fort must remain a historic building and the Accra
Community Center must continue to serve its inimitable purpose.
Many Ghanaians have missed the important message in Ga,
inscribed on the frontage of the Accra Community Center, that says, “Kwe boni ehi ke boni eyeo feo ke
nyemimei fee ekome….” Meaning, how good it is for all brethrens
to live as one.
For 10 billion dollars for housing, we should be able to build
some schools too.
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, December 12, 2009
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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