“In the language of the poet, the wise hear with their ears, the rich hear with their pockets, the hungry hear with their stomachs. But the fools do not hear at all. Who am I? that is what they say. I’m the whirl wind that fears no storm. I’m the bird by the road side that sings with delight producing beautiful music. For those who have attention. They say I’m low in society once I don’t cheat to be rich. Ex – gratia I have not. For I’m only rewarded with a peanut known is the streets as end of service benefit or you call it a retirement package. All professionals can boast but the teacher taught them all. When you could not write, who taught you writing? When you could not read, who taught you reading? Today you say you’re doctor, a nurse, an accountant, engineer and you say you are this or that! The teacher is the ladder. The teacher moulded them all, and the fate of the teacher. Is now determine by those he taught……………….. I shout with a loud voice. If you can read and write. Thank and respect the teacher’’ poet Guonaa
The teacher and by extension the teaching profession is seen in this corner of our world (Ghana) as a scam and the bad occupation that has ever happened to the Ghanaian workforce. For such a long time in the annals of our country, the work of the teacher is been dragged into the mud, branded and rebranded as the worse and rather unfortunate profession to ever be associated with. Fact uncontended is, the teacher is relegated to the ground as though his contribution to the building of a better society is valueless and a wanton dessipation of state resources for his training. But where have we gone wrong as a country? Because a couple of decades ago the situation was not as we’re experiencing in recent times. Indeed, history holds the ascession that in recent past, Dr.Kwame Nkrumah led administration saw the inestimable worth of the teacher (teaching profession) at the time to the building of the better Ghana Agenda. And hence sought avenues that protected and elevated the status of the teacher to intend give back to society. Let me be quick to state that, the current education system places the country (Ghana) on a ticking time bomb and a complete production of brainless citizens on a large scale.
For the records, the teacher remains the only major stakeholder in the Ghanaian public service who still take up menial jobs such as taxi driving, temporal census officers, temporal staff of EC, causal staff of NIA, mosquito net distributors,satellite disc installers, betting agents, lotto agents, momo agents just to mention a few, in order to make ends meet. But if this illuminates the reality, then the bad precedence that has since been set is one too many and swiftly requires a paradigm shift that allows the impoverished teacher (proud role model of society) to occupy his rightful position in the Ghanaian workforce. More pressing is the workload on the teacher and which doesn’t reflect on the teacher’s renumeration as a responsible public sector worker. The irony of the situation however is that, a politician enters into politics today and the next day he’s a multi – millionaire with fleshy cars and huge mansions everywhere in the cities, this makes the politician speaks with contempt towards the improverished teacher who survives from hand to mouth. The best way to teach your teacher is to present your ideas as suggestions. But it’s the vice under the current circumstance. How can the politician take home every four years what the teacher takes home in his entire working stints. My country can do better.
To effectively ensure that we thrive on a path that lends on credence on excellence, change and sustainable development, it’s important that our vision as a country emcompasses and accords relevance to the very individuals that are pivotal to policy execution. This makes it laudable in terms of realigning the thematic areas of students experiences and outcomes, the absence of a composite national curriculum has largely occasioned a lack of clarity and focus about the key principles and concepts underpinning the education system in Ghana. A dive into the vision of the newly crafted curriculum by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment(NaCCA) under the auspices of the Ministry Of Education- Ghana, reveals a rather unfornate approach where the teacher is offered less or no chance to expose the classroom situation to other stakeholders. This attitude breeds a lack of commitment and undermines the efforts of the teacher at the grassroot. Formulators of the curriculum seem to think more about the policy implementation to the neglect of the implementer. Does it not therefore come to you as quite a rediculous and a deliberate act of irresponsibility, that as a country, our educational atmosphere has seen the finest policy crafts ever yet very abysmal implementation and outputs. The deficiency has been the exemption of the very person at the heart (the teacher) who can describe the classroom situation better than anyone else. At present, teachers are one of the most vulnerable sections of the society as many of them knows not what the future holds for them. As far as empowerment of the teacher is concerned, curriculum is being framed without knowing the ground reality of the students knowledge level and poor vulnerable teacher who has never been part of this planning and execution but is expected to meet the requirements without raising a question. This raises important questions about what the underlying core value, and formidable principles of the Ghanaian educational systems are and how these fit into a broader medium to long term national development framework.It's worth noting that under the current dissipensation in the education jurisdiction, all stakeholders with vested interest in the childs education (teachers, parents, students, CSOs ) appears to be meticulously undertaking their roles when apparently the learning environment (infrastructure and Teaching & Learning Resources) depicts the contrary.
Article 21 clause 1 of the 1992 constitution declares in no equivocal terms that; all persons shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression which shall include freedom of the press and other media. Embodied in this dispatch is a revelation of the fact that the press and by extension every indivdual in Ghana has the right to say anything that they want, whenever they will it without recourse to setting, provided it doesn’t threaten the life of another citizen. In a related development, the universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and to which Ghana is a signatory, states in article 19 that; everyone has the right to freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek , receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Hence the freedom to express one’s opinion without any kind of censorship is a natural right to freely express oneself, is not contigent on the whims and caprice of any government. Also, to further battress the fact of expression of ones opinion without prejudice to malice or molevalent intentions. The collective agreement for teaching staff within the Ghana Education Service (effective January, 2020), section 3, subsection 3.1; states that subject to existing laws and Regulations, representatives of the Employer and the Union shall be free to express views without fear that relations between them will be affected in any way by statements made in good faith while acting in a representative capacity.
I can chronicle several inadequacies that has bedeviled the education system (ie infrastructural inadequacies, systemic failures, food shortages, lack of TLRs amidst others) in recent times and for which no teacher would dare speak about. Because that will amount to a sacrilege and complete risk of his job. It’s a fact that the former colleges of education has been upgraded to university colleges of education (which makes them degree awarding institutions by default) but in reality and with the candid of heart they’re nothing but upgraded senior high schools.
Fast forward, a new curriculum was recently outdoored in 2019 to among other things respond to a national priority of shifting the structure and content of the education system from merely passing examinations to building character, nurturing values, and raising literate, confident, and engaged citizens who can think critically. The sad reality is that, two years post the implementation of this vision, teachers are left in a dilemma as they are not provided the necessary but basic materials (textbooks) required to effectively engineer this rather splendid vision. But to the extent that the teacher who primarily understands the classroom situation is surpressed and left with no alternative, then they will only be pretending to sort of deliver on their mandate when the latter proves otherwise.
But if this revelation holds and is a true reflection of the pillars of our democracy as a people, why is the person who is entrusted the responsibility to educate the society never allowed to speak for his liberty to impart knowledge, frame the policy, urge to learn new technologies to make teaching – learning more effective and boost the education system for a bright future of our society. How he will get this power to express concerns on children’s education and his own enhancement of knowledge for the betterment of society, is not clear under the current dispensation.
CONCLUSION
The teacher’s action inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. As a general rule, teachers teach more by what they are than by what they say. The teacher is one whose job is to guide, conduct, point to and amongst other things pass on knowledge to another with the intend of bettering the life in its entirety.
A departure from the current educational system would help address the attitudinal issues that have left our country on its knees since the inception of the fourth Republic. The future is uncertain, mediocrity is on increase and millions of the policy beneficiaries (students) are cluess about their career choices. It’s essential therefore to have a robust system with visionary academic leaders to achieve a complete and comprehensive expectancy rate of the policy which promises students to be job creators not job seekers. For in order to shape our national discourse on education and achieve a comprehensive and result oriented output, it’s encumbent on us as a nation to heed the clarion call of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s who opines that; you cannot pay politicians more than the ones who taught them.
CONTACT:
A.K.ZABARI JNR
CEO - Purpose Driven Innovation – Ghana
Post Office Box 47A
Wenchi – Akrobi Newton, Bono Region
Cell: 0208879449/0243842562