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The state of public schools in
Ghana
E. Ablorh-Odjidja
December 12, 2009
Mr. Alfred Vandapuiye, the Mayor of Accra’s intention to
end the shift system for public schools in the city is
highly commendable. But the idea that he could correct
this problem by taking over unused public buildings for
use as schools is rather fragile at best.
Ussher Fort and the Accra Community Center are buildings
he cites as unused public buildings.
It is very sad to hear the Mayor label these
buildings as “unused”.
He has forgotten that these two buildings are
historical landmarks.
A
Mayor who is out to boost education must understand this
fact first, otherwise, what is the use of education?
The reality is the result of the mismanagement of the
educational system.
The schools are being run on a shift basis for
the past two decades or more, a move that was meant as a
stop-gap measure has become a permanent feature of our
educational system today.
And the consequences are in full view now.
Social ills are coming in; truancy and poor education
are some of them.
So, the Mayor is right to seek correction.
But why convert historic landmarks like Ussher Fort and
the Accra Community Center to buildings for public
schools?
The Mayor, in his previous professional life, was an
educationist.
He must therefore have known that the mere sight
of a historical building like Ussher Fort, for instance,
can provide more civic or historic lessons in a day than
the same building turned into a school can provide in a
lifetime.
To have assumed that Ussher Fort and the Accra Community
Center are “unused,” and therefore, poorly managed, is a
statement of fact and the correct first step in
reasoning on this matter.
But the Mayor is wrong in concluding that the conversion
of these buildings into new spaces for schools is the
answer.
Ussher Fort and the Accra Community Center cannot serve
two purposes; provide space for schooling and still be
archives of our history.
And just like the shift system did to the previous
excellent, stable system we had for schools, the Mayor's
plan will end up destroying the import and insignia of
the two historic buildings.
On this alone must the conclusion be that the
Mayor’s plan is a bad one and a reckless policy that
needs to be promptly shelved.
A
better plan would be if he could convince the government
to use some of the $10 billion the government has
secured from South Korea for housing as part of the loan
for expanding school buildings and facilities in the
city area.
Ten billion is a huge sum of money.
It should easily provide a concept that
incorporates housing and school, especially when there
is a huge need for both in the city of Accra at the time
of securing the loan.
Education is as important as housing. When you give
people a place to live, where they educate their
children should be a concern too.
Just one billion from the Korean loan could
easily satisfy both needs at the local stage and even
beyond the national level.
On the other hand, no amount of money can instill or
burnish the essence already lodged in a building like
Ussher in the minds of Ghanaians; the historic colonial
ties and matters arising from our independence struggle,
cannot be moved elsewhere when the spaces in them are
turned into school rooms.
Built by the Dutch in the 17th century, Ussher Fort
became a British possession by the 19th century and
later became a prison.
Its epic moment was reached when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,
imprisoned there in 1950 by the British, was released on
February 12, 1951, following a victory at the polls by
his Convention Peoples Party.
Nkrumah went on to form a government and then win
independence for our country in 1957.
Thus, our independence struggle, together with
our growth as a nation, is wrapped in the reality at
Ussher Fort.
This alone is a huge civic lesson that no school in that
building can give.
And the big lesson that must follow is how this
same building has been neglected to the point that its
very existence can now be wiped away with the excuse for
more space for school buildings.
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 a 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.
Proper recreation is an important aspect of growth for a
nation and the Accra Community Center was built
purposely to fulfill this need. The lesson
in our streets today, where kids have no space for civic
or social enhancement, should affirm the need for more
spaces like the Accra community center today.
The need for school spaces should not negate the
importance of a social center like the Accra Community
Center in the 1950s.
Our schools have problems now.
They are producing kids with less knowledge and
also lacking in social graces. These are not problems
generated by a lack of space.
These are problems induced by the lack of proper
understanding of what schools are meant to provide for
society.
It has also more to do with the policy planners in our
current overall system.
Such half-baked ideas like the current conversion
idea are examples, together with building on past
experiments in reformation within the school system that
didn’t work.
These are the attrition factors on all the good things
that once worked well in our school system.
There used to be a time when school attendance was
regular and scheduled.
You saw a kid in the street, and you knew he
ought to be in class.
You also knew which school he or she belonged to
because of the uniqueness of the uniform.
Now the uniform is the same for most and the schedule is
on a shift system. A kid can always skip school and you
cannot know whether he should be in class or to which
school he belonged.
There was a distinction between the school’s kids
attended back then.
Some of us once attended an old institutional
Presbyterian boarding school called Osu Salem.
The school uniform was as distinct as the
behavior and attitude it encouraged in pupils.
I still cherish that system today.
In the same manner, I cherish the idea of distinction
that existed for our historic structures.
Ussher Fort and the Accra Community Center must
continue to serve their inimitable purposes.
The significance of the Accra Community Center is gone
but it should be cherished today.
Many Ghanaians today don't understand the
important message inscribed in Ga on it, which still
adorns its decrepit frontage.
It says, “Kwe boni ehi ke boni eyeo feo ke nyemimei fee
ekome….”
There is no better way to express social cohesion among
us today.
Try walking past the Ussher Fort and you will be gripped
by its uniqueness and the knowledge of how far we have
come.
But just like we have done to the school uniforms of the
past, the Mayor is seeking to do the same to Ussher Fort
and the Accra Community Center.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher www.ghanadot.com,
Washington, DC, December 12, 2009
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