By Doreen Hammond
MY name is Afia. I am 14 and would like to share my story with all those who would like to listen. Is it a sad story? Not exactly, but I wouldn’t call it a sweet one either. It is all about how I have been denied the sweet childhood my mummy told me she had when she was my age.
This sweet childhood of yesteryears is gradually passing me by and I may miss it forever. It is all about this enterprise called education which mummy insists I should have in order to become somebody in future. And so now I wake up at 4.30 a.m. in order to be in school by 7.30 a.m.
We live at one of the new sites in the city and so it takes us not less than one and a half hours to get to the school. So why don’t I attend a school around my community? Well, mum insists that she wants me to be in a GOOD school and the ones in the neighbourhood are not exactly her idea of good schools! So there are bad schools and good schools? And how does one end up in either a good or a bad school? Is it a matter of choice or what?
I get home around 6 p.m. every day, after two hours of slugging it out in traffic. After dinner and a quick shower (mum says every female needs a shower twice a day! True?), I go to my books to attend to the legion of homework that accompanies me home daily. With eyes barely opened after doing my homework, I go through my notes for the next day’s activities. Then I retire to bed late, feeling drained of all my energy.
If ever I harbour any hope of using the weekend for some rest and any personal work, that is not to be. At 8.30 a.m. on Saturdays I am back in school for weekend classes. And then on Sundays the home teacher arrives after church and stays till evening.
As if this is not enough, vacations are no longer used for the purpose for which they are intended. They are no longer about breaking off from academic work, playing with my friends and fallowing the brain for next term’s school work. It is all about summer school, even though, according to mummy, summer and winter used not to be part of our weather pattern. So even on vacation I have the misfortune of still being in school. My whole life is school, school and school!
Poor Afia, her situation is a general reflection of what most children, especially those in the cities, go through on a daily basis.
What has changed so much that preparing our children for the Basic Education Certificate Examination looks like preparing them to go to war? Yet, in spite of all the extra classes, there are complaints that our children are generally not performing well in the BECE, especially in English, the very medium of instruction, and Mathematics.
The numerous pronouncements made by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service against extra classes notwithstanding, they continue in earnest. Various sums of money are collected from parents to organise these classes.
The schools argue that the children need extra tuition to be able to cover the syllabi. Some make a case for extra classes as a means for helping the weak ones; that is, children who need more time to grasp what they are taught in class.
Some parents are of the view that the extra classes must be held in the interest of the children but should be at no cost to parents. Other parents argue that the teachers must be given some incentives, not necessarily remuneration, for teaching the children. Others are still of the opinion that additional classes or tuition is required when there is the need for final-year pupils and students to complete the syllabi.
Until recently when it became the norm in many basic and second-cycle schools, extra classes were used to polish up pupils who were about to write their examination. Teachers used extra classes to discuss past examination questions and give students guidelines on how to answer questions.
For now, the extra classes continue, in spite of the concerns raised against them, and pupils are charged for those classes. Even pupils in classes as low as Primary One in some schools attend extra classes. Indeed, in some schools failure to pay for extra classes results in hot lashes for the children.
This gives the impression that extra classes are a means for teachers to make some money. After all, when teachers go to the filling station to buy fuel, the attendant’s knowledge that they are teachers does not put fuel in the cars. They have to pay with money.
So why can’t the syllabi be covered during normal school hours? Is it that the syllabi have been so loaded that they are overworking both teachers and pupils, to the extent that even vacations are no vacations?
On most school compounds during vacation, it is common to see students dressed in all kinds of attire and hanging out in groups doing everything and anything, apart from studying. Is that what has become known as the summer school?
Have rest and vacation no longer a place in a child’s upbringing? What happened to the mock cooking (enkro bo), ampe, hop scotch, etc. that were part of our growing up?
While parents are busy looking for money to pay bills and fees, children continuously sit in the classrooms. Is it all going to be about money, since, for the schools, that seems the motivation for organising all kinds of classes?
Is the time allotted for schoolwork so short that teachers cannot finish the syllabi within the stipulated period? Children used to learn through play but they now have little time for that. They have to take their breakfast as they ride in cars to school and their parents use the little time between the time they arrive in school and the time they run off into their classrooms to teach them the homework they are loaded with.
And what impact do we expect a teacher who is always tired and overloaded with teaching to have on his pupils? Do they have time to prepare their notes?
According to the Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Mr Charles Parker-Allotey, the GES does not think that the syllabi can not be covered within the normal school hours. He said, however, that the GES had decided that instructional hours in basic schools be increased from five to six hours to stop the organisation of extra classes.
The increase in hours would be at no cost to parents, he noted, adding that the suggestion had been sent in a memo to the Ministry of Education for consideration and approval.
The decision, he said, was in response to persistent requests by basic schools that they needed to organise extra classes in order to cover the syllabi. He said the GES management thought an additional hour should be able to help teachers cover the syllabi.
In taking that decision, Mr Parker-Allotey said, the management of the GES considered the burden on parents financially and pupils/students who got no rest because of the organisation of extra classes.
He explained that as early as 6.30 a.m. some pupils had to be in school for extra classes before the normal school hours began and have another session of extra classes, known as “extra extra classes”, after the normal school hours. He said the GES management considered the fact that workers in the Civil Service worked for 12 hours and that the additional hour for instruction in schools would not be out of place.
“The GES also compared the instructional hours in Ghana to those in other African countries and even some countries outside Africa and saw that we have very few hours,” Mr Parker-Allotey stated.
Child psychologists are of the view that for a holistic upbringing of the child, playing, especially with his or her peers, is very important. This is even so in our case where most schools do not even have facilities for outdoor games. Here, we are talking about games such as football.
What kind of children are we nurturing? We need to give children back their childhood!
Writer’s e-mail: aamakai@hotmail.com
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
MODERN DAY EDUCATION OR 419?
MODERN DAY EDUCATION OR 419?
By Doreen Hammond
On trees and in between trees, between the stands of billboards, on electric poles and street lights, walls of public toilets, uncompleted buildings and stalls hang different kinds of banners and posters advertising admission for various educational institutions. The newspapers, television and radio stations are not left out.
They include adverts for crèches, primary schools, computer training, language schools, pre- universities and universities and most popular among them, remedial classes.
The latest I saw yesterday was a banner advertising “Last minute, exam tips for Special WASSCE, English and Maths” when students are promised to come “face to face with examiners”. The only indication of a contact on the advert was a cell phone number, no location address.
The entry requirement of some of these pre-tertiary institutions is “ no academic qualification needed”. Significant about the phenomenon is the use of names which come very close to those of known and reputable institutions world-wide. Obviously, this is to create an imaginary link for the purpose of getting some credibility rubbed on them. So a name like Hurry Institute is then changed to Harry for this purpose. A derivative of Havard is also used for obvious effect. And by some co-incidence if you like, some of these institutes advertise their location prominently—Legon! Need I say why?
The worry is that, there seems a ready market for such institutions as indicated by the increasing number of such adverts by the day. Ghanaians have realised the importance of education and most parents would squeeze water out of stone to ensure that their children receive the best of education. But must this be a justification for charlatans to milk them dry of their hard earned money under the guise of providing this all important service of education?
Can just anybody with any infrastructure provide a service as important as education? And so now we have institutions operating from metal containers and some hotel conference rooms purporting to be offering graduate and post graduate courses . Something is just not being done right.
Recently, the General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Bright Blewu, expressed concern about the existence of mushroom journalism institutions which are churning out half- baked journalists. For him, this situation is contributing to the low standards of journalism the country is now facing.
Mr Blewu said that although the association had complained to the National Accreditation Board (NAB), these institutions continued to operate with impunity while the board and the entire society look on helplessly.
Just a few days ago it took the intervention of a traditional chief to warn the public about the emergence of some schools purporting to be running courses on oil and gas for job seekers. He appropriately warned the public to be wary of these so - called Oil and Gas Universities.
While the action of the chief is commendable, it nevertheless questions the role of the state institution empowered to give accreditation to educational institutions. For instance, has the board any criteria for determining who qualifies for accreditation and is this criterion being followed to the letter?
Does the board also have enforcement powers and the legal backing to ensure that schools which do not meet the criteria do not operate? Who protects the Ghanaian from educational institutions which are not worth attending?
The sad reality is that the situation the GJA General Secretary spoke about is not only limited to journalism but other professions as well. As more of these sub-standard institutions are encouraged to flourish through our collective commission or omission, it is our human capacity which stands to suffer; if it has not already.
So we will have half- baked teachers, accountants, journalists, nurses, business people etc. and mother Ghana will be the ultimate loser. As it is now, it looks like getting an accreditation to set up an institution is just routine and that once you apply you must necessarily get it.
The NAB was established by the Government of Ghana in 1993 with the enactment of PNDCL 317, 1993 to accredit both public and private (tertiary) institutions with regard to the contents and standards of their programmes.
It is to determine, in consultation with the appropriate institution or body, the programme and requirements for the proper operation of that institution and the maintenance of acceptable levels of academic or professional standards. It determines the equivalence of diplomas, certificates and other qualifications awarded by institutions in Ghana or elsewhere.
By its mandate, NAB is to accredit all categories of tertiary institutions, be they universities, university colleges, polytechnics, colleges, schools, institutions, academies, or tutorial colleges.
The big question is how do parents and or prospective students ascertain the accreditation status of an institution before enrolment?
Though the Board publishes information about accredited institutions from time to time in the national newspapers and the Gazette, this is rather sporadic and does not seem to deter charlatans whose only motivation is to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent Ghanaians who want to be educated. The information can also be obtained from the Secretariat of the NAB but how practicable is this for everyone seeking admission into an educational institution?
By Regulation 19(2) of L. I. 1700 (2002) :
“No person or institution shall
(a) Advertise or continue to advertise or in any manner hold itself out to the public as a tertiary institution;
(b) admit or continue to admit students or conduct courses or programmes of instruction leading to an award of certificates, diplomas or degrees;
(c) continue to operate as a tertiary institution where the institution’s authorisation, accreditation or registration has been suspended or revoked; or
(d) otherwise embark upon or continue with any activity preparatory to the establishment of facilities for tertiary education, after the commencement of these Regulations unless the person or institution complies with these Regulations”.
Regulation 19(3) of L. I. 1700 adds that: “Any person or institution that contravenes any provision of Sub-regulation (2) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 penalty units”.
But proprietors easily counter such publications with vigorous and aggressive advertising campaigns in the media.
The question is : how many of these unaccredited institutions have been brought to book at the instance of NAB?
On its website, the NAB warns that in recent times, the Board has received certificates acquired online for evaluation. Its investigations have revealed that these certificates are fake, as the institutions supposed to have issued them do not exist. It has therefore warned employers, institutions, parents and individuals to be wary of such online qualifications and endeavour to seek information from the National Accreditation Board.
Is a warning from NAB enough? Must such unaccredited institutions be allowed to flourish when their only motivation seems to be to swindle people whose only crime is seeking education?
Mr Kwame Dattey, Executive Secretary of the NAB, who may be the one to provide answers to the many questions raised appears to be similarly worried about the situation. He says that NAB also finds it difficult to trace some of these institutions which advertise themselves without accreditation ( which is illegal) but was ready to follow hints from the public to investigate them and then hand over the matter to the security agencies.
He explained that some of these institutions were ignorant about the need to get accreditation and in some cases the NAB educates them after asking them to remove their banners/adverts .
The NAB has a critical role to play in ensuring that we have the right institutions to train our work force for the present and the future. For now we cannot say the Board is operating at its optimum. It has challenges with monitoring . It is about time we retooled and built the capacity of the Board to perform as per its mandate. Failure to do this and we risk having more square pegs in round holes in the not too distant future.
Writer’s e-mail: aamakai@hotmail.com
By Doreen Hammond
On trees and in between trees, between the stands of billboards, on electric poles and street lights, walls of public toilets, uncompleted buildings and stalls hang different kinds of banners and posters advertising admission for various educational institutions. The newspapers, television and radio stations are not left out.
They include adverts for crèches, primary schools, computer training, language schools, pre- universities and universities and most popular among them, remedial classes.
The latest I saw yesterday was a banner advertising “Last minute, exam tips for Special WASSCE, English and Maths” when students are promised to come “face to face with examiners”. The only indication of a contact on the advert was a cell phone number, no location address.
The entry requirement of some of these pre-tertiary institutions is “ no academic qualification needed”. Significant about the phenomenon is the use of names which come very close to those of known and reputable institutions world-wide. Obviously, this is to create an imaginary link for the purpose of getting some credibility rubbed on them. So a name like Hurry Institute is then changed to Harry for this purpose. A derivative of Havard is also used for obvious effect. And by some co-incidence if you like, some of these institutes advertise their location prominently—Legon! Need I say why?
The worry is that, there seems a ready market for such institutions as indicated by the increasing number of such adverts by the day. Ghanaians have realised the importance of education and most parents would squeeze water out of stone to ensure that their children receive the best of education. But must this be a justification for charlatans to milk them dry of their hard earned money under the guise of providing this all important service of education?
Can just anybody with any infrastructure provide a service as important as education? And so now we have institutions operating from metal containers and some hotel conference rooms purporting to be offering graduate and post graduate courses . Something is just not being done right.
Recently, the General Secretary of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Bright Blewu, expressed concern about the existence of mushroom journalism institutions which are churning out half- baked journalists. For him, this situation is contributing to the low standards of journalism the country is now facing.
Mr Blewu said that although the association had complained to the National Accreditation Board (NAB), these institutions continued to operate with impunity while the board and the entire society look on helplessly.
Just a few days ago it took the intervention of a traditional chief to warn the public about the emergence of some schools purporting to be running courses on oil and gas for job seekers. He appropriately warned the public to be wary of these so - called Oil and Gas Universities.
While the action of the chief is commendable, it nevertheless questions the role of the state institution empowered to give accreditation to educational institutions. For instance, has the board any criteria for determining who qualifies for accreditation and is this criterion being followed to the letter?
Does the board also have enforcement powers and the legal backing to ensure that schools which do not meet the criteria do not operate? Who protects the Ghanaian from educational institutions which are not worth attending?
The sad reality is that the situation the GJA General Secretary spoke about is not only limited to journalism but other professions as well. As more of these sub-standard institutions are encouraged to flourish through our collective commission or omission, it is our human capacity which stands to suffer; if it has not already.
So we will have half- baked teachers, accountants, journalists, nurses, business people etc. and mother Ghana will be the ultimate loser. As it is now, it looks like getting an accreditation to set up an institution is just routine and that once you apply you must necessarily get it.
The NAB was established by the Government of Ghana in 1993 with the enactment of PNDCL 317, 1993 to accredit both public and private (tertiary) institutions with regard to the contents and standards of their programmes.
It is to determine, in consultation with the appropriate institution or body, the programme and requirements for the proper operation of that institution and the maintenance of acceptable levels of academic or professional standards. It determines the equivalence of diplomas, certificates and other qualifications awarded by institutions in Ghana or elsewhere.
By its mandate, NAB is to accredit all categories of tertiary institutions, be they universities, university colleges, polytechnics, colleges, schools, institutions, academies, or tutorial colleges.
The big question is how do parents and or prospective students ascertain the accreditation status of an institution before enrolment?
Though the Board publishes information about accredited institutions from time to time in the national newspapers and the Gazette, this is rather sporadic and does not seem to deter charlatans whose only motivation is to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent Ghanaians who want to be educated. The information can also be obtained from the Secretariat of the NAB but how practicable is this for everyone seeking admission into an educational institution?
By Regulation 19(2) of L. I. 1700 (2002) :
“No person or institution shall
(a) Advertise or continue to advertise or in any manner hold itself out to the public as a tertiary institution;
(b) admit or continue to admit students or conduct courses or programmes of instruction leading to an award of certificates, diplomas or degrees;
(c) continue to operate as a tertiary institution where the institution’s authorisation, accreditation or registration has been suspended or revoked; or
(d) otherwise embark upon or continue with any activity preparatory to the establishment of facilities for tertiary education, after the commencement of these Regulations unless the person or institution complies with these Regulations”.
Regulation 19(3) of L. I. 1700 adds that: “Any person or institution that contravenes any provision of Sub-regulation (2) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 250 penalty units”.
But proprietors easily counter such publications with vigorous and aggressive advertising campaigns in the media.
The question is : how many of these unaccredited institutions have been brought to book at the instance of NAB?
On its website, the NAB warns that in recent times, the Board has received certificates acquired online for evaluation. Its investigations have revealed that these certificates are fake, as the institutions supposed to have issued them do not exist. It has therefore warned employers, institutions, parents and individuals to be wary of such online qualifications and endeavour to seek information from the National Accreditation Board.
Is a warning from NAB enough? Must such unaccredited institutions be allowed to flourish when their only motivation seems to be to swindle people whose only crime is seeking education?
Mr Kwame Dattey, Executive Secretary of the NAB, who may be the one to provide answers to the many questions raised appears to be similarly worried about the situation. He says that NAB also finds it difficult to trace some of these institutions which advertise themselves without accreditation ( which is illegal) but was ready to follow hints from the public to investigate them and then hand over the matter to the security agencies.
He explained that some of these institutions were ignorant about the need to get accreditation and in some cases the NAB educates them after asking them to remove their banners/adverts .
The NAB has a critical role to play in ensuring that we have the right institutions to train our work force for the present and the future. For now we cannot say the Board is operating at its optimum. It has challenges with monitoring . It is about time we retooled and built the capacity of the Board to perform as per its mandate. Failure to do this and we risk having more square pegs in round holes in the not too distant future.
Writer’s e-mail: aamakai@hotmail.com
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