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by Pia Helm and Leon Seidel
Ghana is a country full of contrasts. Whereas unity and equality are to be aspired, separation and disparities are revealed. Most of all this issue is reflected in public services like education. Compared to other African countries Ghana spends a high percentage on education and with 75% of the population being able to read has a good literacy rate. Nevertheless the quality of education differs drastically from rural to urban areas and depends on a person’s wealth/ schooling is compulsory still not all children are attending school.
In Ghana your education is supposed to take about 20 years. It is divided in three parts: the basic education, the secondary education and the tertiary education. Managed by several agencies, mainly the Ministry Of Education and the Ghana Education Service, school is meant to be free and compulsory. Still not all children in Ghana are attending school, because it is impossible for some families to afford it.
Even though you should start going to school at three years, most children are sent to the nursery when they are about one year old. And nurseries usually are at school. So two years later the children’s basic education starts with going to Pre-School or Kindergarten. For that time unlike in the nursery the children already have to learn and memorize certain information. At the age of six a child then starts going to Primary School for six years. A lot of schools contain these three stages of education, only some include Junior High School as well, which is the next stage. After three years the Junior High School ends on the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). Only if the BECE is achieved the pupil will be able to pursue into the secondary cycle. In conclusion at a very early age a student’s education is defined, for depending on the level of the student’s BECE grade, the standard of the following school is going to be decided.
For the secondary education there are several ways in which a student can reach the next Examination, the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the requirement for attending the tertiary cycle. Either by going to a Senior High School for a general education or by going to a technical Senior High School or another technical or vocational institute it is achievable. Although many institutions other than the Senior High School can lead to various certifications. After three years of secondary education, then the tertiary education can follow. It is basically divided into Universities and Polytechnics. Also there are specific institutions for vocational training.
School is managed by the government. The Ministry Of Education is responsible of administration and coordination. The curriculum specifically is instituted by the Ghana Education Service (GES), a part of the Ministry. The GES generally is responsible for the coordination of national education policy on pre-tertiary education. Policies are implemented in cooperation with the local offices. That is being handled by multiple agencies. Many schools in Ghana though are private ones. They need the government’s admission to be founded, get supervised by the government and have to follow the Ghanaian curriculum. Private schools do have a better reputation than public ones, but the privatization of education causes it not to be free of charge.
All schools in Ghana are obligated to follow the GES’s curriculum. Subjects and even the particular lessons are selected and designed in advance. All are made to lead to examinations, therefore focus on repetition and memorization. Education already starts in Kindergarten with 6 basic subjects, for instance English, math, science and some more creative and physical subjects, which are taught in English. For the first three years though they could legally study in another language. The following curricula build onto this. Subjects like ‘Ghanaian language and culture’, and ‘religious and moral education’ are added. In reality though often schools do not have the material to teach extra subjects. A French or a music teacher is not affordable for many, as well as computers to teach ICT. Any physical education is integrated in the breaks of the children, meaning if they play football during a break it is set as PE. Most days children are taught English and math. The school system is modeled on a traditional British school system, and some textbooks are directly derived from British texts used in England years ago. The grading system is different at every point in education.
In Senior High School the students are able, apart from four core subjects ( English, math, integrated science and social studies), to choose three to four elective subjects. In that way students can decide whether to have their focus on science, arts, business or vocational and technical programs. The private schools also follow this syllabus; some add other subjects or teaching methods. Montessori schools for example add a Montessori-curriculum. To see a school report of a wealthy Montessori School, click on the link.
Some private schools are international schools and they follow various foreign curricula. They tend to be very expensive, but are also said to have a high teaching standard and good facilities, in line with schools in Europe or North America. After Senior High School the students need to do one year of national service, which can be government service, joining the military, or doing civilian service.
Based on their performance at the WASSCE examination, students are admitted at Universities. They offer an academic education form bachelor to PhD. Private and public colleges usually provide education for one field, like agriculture, or one work-training, like teacher training, which for example ends with a trainee-ship. Students also have the possibility to go to Polytechnics, which offer a vocational education. After a three-year curricula, leading to a Higher National Diploma (HND), students then have the possibility to follow a special 18 month program to achieve a Bachelor of Technology degree.
In Ghana there are about 18,530 Primary schools, most including Nursery and Kindergarten and sometimes combined with Junior High Schools. Some of them are public institutions, some are private. But for tertiary education there are only 6 public Universities, 15 private ones and 12 Polytechnics. As well as the institutes, students are decreasing extremely with the level of education. Though there are so many schools, it does not implement, that a lot of children achieve the education they need to climb the education ladder. Moreover, the higher the education level, the more expensive the schools become. 2013 more than four million students attended Primary school, but only about half of them went on to Junior High School. In secondary cycle was less than half of the population between 15 and 18 enrolled and at universities just about one hundred thousand pupils.
52 out of 122,079 teachers at Primary Schools are trained, says a report from the Ministry Of Education. ‘Trained’ means having attended a public college for teacher training. Given that many children do not even attend Junior High School and that colleges are very expensive, it is not surprising, that not as many pupils go through a governmental teacher training. In addition to that, trained teachers are way more expensive for schools. There is no general salary for teachers; instead they get paid depending on their level of experience and education.
Especially in the north of Ghana teachers are a scarce good, because many teachers migrate to urban areas for a better job. A lot of the ‘normal’ teachers are Senior High School graduates, who will earn their teaching skills through in-service training or experience over the years. Hence usually schools provide inadequate teachers. Additionally having the teaching focus on memorization and repetition and the teachers usually not being responsible for a few subjects but for a few classes and all their subjects, it is explainable why especially poor schools do not teach at high standards.
Teaching methods do not vary, there is only head-on teaching. Some teachers speak of creative exercises, like drawing, some say it helps the sense of community to divide children by gender or religion and have them do group work. But usually on person speaks and the rest listens. Especially with smaller children it is a problem, that this teaching method does not motivate them. So some motivate them with sweets, others with physical punishment. Beating the children to show them they have done a mistake and need to be punished is very common in Ghana. A slap on the head is the nice version. Though banned by the government a few months ago, many teachers still practice caning, which can mean having the children who are to be punished kneel outside in the sun and beat them heavily with a wooden stick. It is justified with the Ghanaian culture, the generally bad behavior of the kids and not at all. But it does not help to prevent bad behavior, instead either it frightens the students or it makes them aggressive themselves. They learn violence to be normal and at some point will need the threat of physical punishment to listen. They learn to lie to avoid the punishment and by this that lying is alright. And they learn to treat others the same way.
Teachers’ salaries are the worst among all public sector workers in the country, says the Ashanti Regional Secretary of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT). Manly for the trained teachers working at public schools there are many associations for teachers. Their general concern is their salary, which should be higher and is often late. Over the last years they often threatened to strike, because they would not get their payment at the end of the month. Moreover, the motivation of teachers lacks and they start to be lazy and just do not come to school. The Coalition of Concerned Teachers says depending on the teacher’s rank the average salary is 1000 GHC. That is not the case in the private sector. Teachers at private schools do always get their salary at the end of the month. In case they are absent, they will not get any payment, so mostly they do their job. But as well as there are wealthy private schools, there are many poor as well, that cannot afford trained teachers. So their salary can be less than 200 GHC per month. To see an example of a less wealthy private school, click on the link.
Of the government’s expenditure on education 2.6% were spent on the training of teachers in 2008. The teacher’s salaries alone account for nearly one-quarter of the expenditure. More than 90% of education budget is spent by Ministry Of Education and its agencies, but personal emoluments tend to be the biggest cost driver of the education sector. Though public primary schools are supposed to be compulsory and free, there are not enough teachers and facilities available to accommodate all students and the schools often take general fees anyways. School fees can range about 15-30GHC per term and additional fees include payment of food, uniforms, shoes, transport, books and material of the children. The facilities are often damaged or of low quality, only a third of all primary schools have electricity. Therefore public schools are not popular and seen as for the poor. Even the low-grade private schools take at least 40GHC per term as school fees, the range for private schools goes up to about 1300GHC.
Junior High School fees are rising steeply. They take 40GHC for registration only and charge tests. Senior High Schools, often boarding schools, start with 1000GHC for registration. And tertiary education is only attend-able for rich families. Consequently a lot of children start working at a very early age.
At its website the Ministry Of Education states their vision to be “To provide relevant education to all Ghanaians at all levels (…) “. There are many motivated and dedicated teachers. The actual financial funding of schools and the implementation of education laws and instructions seem to be the issue. Compared to Germany, which has a similar education structure, the conversion of education plans appears to work better. From Kindergarten to University public education is actually free. Germany’s education budget is higher than Ghana’s gross domestic product, which certainly gives schools better facilities, good material and trained teachers. Therefore only 10% of the students in Germany attend private schools. German teachers earn a salary of more than 15.000GHC per month. Though given that the cost of living in Germany is distinctively higher than in Ghana, still it shows how important the funding of education is.
In Germany teachers are trained at Universities usually for two subjects and need to do a trainee-ship and achieve their bachelor degree, before they are allowed to teach at schools. The curriculum includes more subjects and the Ministry Of Education consistently revises it. Though teaching methods can be improved, they include group work, presentations, excursions and discussions on a usual basis. Furthermore, they exclude physical punishment. In reality physical abuse of children in the Ghanaian education system is still very common. To get more information about child abuse in Ghana click on the link. There are many schools where physical punishment is practiced on a daily base. To see a report about a school, click on the link.
In Germany it is mandated by law that children have the right to grow up without physical or mental abuse, meaning the beating of a child is a criminal offense. Some teachers in Ghana blame this form of punishment on the development of the culture. The way education was passed on changed drastically over centuries. Since the British introduced their formal class tuition, the main structure of schooling and all its flaws remained.
In pre-colonial times education was informal. The competencies and knowledge were orally circulated and learned through traineeships. The arrival of European settlers introduced the common book-based education. More or less schools became an instrument of polarization within the country. The audience consisted of local elites, like sons of chiefs or mulattos. Education was only available to the ruling class in the colonial forts, confined to the coasts. Along the way a racial ideology of suppression was indoctrinated. It involved proselytization to Christianity which made the conviction God-given and therefore out of the question.
When the influence of Great Britain increased over the Ghanaian territories in the 19th century, the number of mission schools and merchant companies grew as well. The British influence became manifest in the establishment of the Gold Coast Colony in 1874. Basel and Wesleyan missionaries overwhelmed the country and built up a decentralized system of basic Christian stamped basic education not only in coastal but also in rural areas. This expansion enabled pedagogical freedom and a broader access to education to more beneficiaries. But still schools were far from widely spread.
Since Kwame Nkrumah relieved Ghana from its colonial chains the government has by all means emphasized the importance of free and compulsory education. Every administration tried to implement reforms to ensure a comprehensive access to high quality education. In the 60 years of state sovereignty Ghana has put remarkable financial efforts into the improvement of tuition and enrollment. Corruption and self-enrichment though have since then discredited advisory boards, politicians and private education officials.
At the time Ghana gained independence there were only a handful of secondary and primary schools, as well as two universities, of which one was founded by the Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah in 1952. The Nkrumah administration described education as the key to the future. By introducing the Education Act in 1961 the government tried to provide free and mandatory primary education. Although the enrollment doubled in one year, the expansion of the school system led to a deficit of trained teachers and a decrease of quality in the curriculum. After the first military-coup in 1966 an era of financial and political instability aroused. Even though the educational infrastructure increased until the 70’s, the enrollment declined. Notwithstanding the country failed to solve the deficit of teachers.
Due to the economic impairment, Jerry Rawlings took over power through another military coup in 1981. He gained broader international support and stabilized the political situation. Because the government gathered founds from international organizations like the World Bank, it was now possible to afford massive changes to the educational system. The Education Act of 1987 included a national literacy campaign and implemented a vocational training to Junior High School. The pre-tertiary education was reduced from 17 to 12 years, including compulsory schooling from six to 14. In consequence the enrollment increased at a high rate. However the vocational programs were considered as failure and the universal access to basic education did not fulfill.
In 1993 the Local Government Act initiated decentralization in the education administration which not only led to a transfer of power to the district assemblies, but also intensified the disparities within the country. An action plan for 1996-2005 focused on bridging the gender gap in primary school, as well as improving the teaching materials and teacher’s working conditions. By implementing the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in 2006 on one hand and the National Accreditation Board on the other hand in 2007, the government tried to get a grip on the insufficient tertiary education and its organization. One year later two years of Kindergarten were added to the free and compulsory schooling.
In contrast to its neighboring countries Ghana has put very high efforts into the education system since it gained independence. Although many of the reforms did not lead to the expected results, the country is considered as the regional leader in the delivery of education for all. The great challenge of our time will be to reduce the disparities between the different districts of the country and to provide proper education to the marginalized areas. Like most other issues this is a problem of insufficient monetary means. But what is more costly than investing in education is not to invest in education.
The proportion of Ghana’s GDP and its budgetary expenditures on education is one of the highest worldwide. However it is doubtful whether these investments have revealed a commensurate output so far in terms of enrollment retention and results. Target values such as equality and capacity for innovation are not reflected in the access to education or the consistence of the default curriculum. If the country wants to achieve adequate sustainable prospects, the government will have to encourage target-oriented investments more precisely and earmarked.
Although the net enrollment rate in basic school has been staying at about 90% over the last 5 years and gender parity is mostly out of question, education is still a matter of income and provenance. Girls from northern Ghana for example average only four years of education which is three years less than the national average. Furthermore at least 20% of children with physical disabilities are not attending school. According to the national Census (2013/14) more than 600,000 children of primary school age are still not enrolled. Even though it has been compulsory for more than five years, every fourth child of suitable age is not in pre-school and has not attended Kindergarten. Notwithstanding that the Ghana Embassy states Education as mandatory up until the age of 17, 55% of adolescents are not enrolled in Senior High School.
By virtue of the school environment, which is often not conducive to learning, the quality of education provided to the students falls short of their expected performance. Less than half of Primary School students pass the requisite number of subjects to Junior High School. Additionally only 16% of grade six students are proficient in mathematics and only one third can speak fluent English according to the National Education Assessment. The lack of trained teachers and overcrowded classes are reflected in the fact that six out of ten children who pass through basic education are functionally illiterate and/ or innumerate. While the average pupil teacher ratio is 25:1 at basic private schools and 30:1 at public basic schools, at some urban schools in rather communities there are 80 to 100 children in one class. Along with lacking water and sanitation facilities and short supply in school books, many students are not given the necessary terms and condition to be educated.
The issues of tertiary education differ partly to the problems of most schools. Concerning their prospects of work, the economy in Ghana does simply not provide enough academic jobs, although only 12% of SHS graduates attend tertiary tuition. Passing rates are less of a problem. But the quality of tuition leaves a lot to be desired. Students do not learn enough employable skills, such as analytical and critical reasoning, communication skills, ICT competencies or work ethic and entrepreneurship. Graduate unemployment remains a major issue to Ghana’s economic development.
The problems of Ghana’s education institutions can be reduced to a common denominator: lacking monetary funds. Moreover the reforms that have been implemented over last 50 years only shifted the challenges onto provisional councils or shelved in a cursory manner. But since the standardization of the curriculum the matrix of the schooling system remained untouched. Tutors dictate the guidelines to the audience who then have to repeat the content to memorize for the short term to pass exams. This old-fashioned style of teaching though is still very common all around the world. Education needs to promote creativity, emancipation and inclusion in order to establish an innovative and self-dependent society with sustainable economic prospects.
A country which distinguishes itself from most other countries concerning their education system is Finland. The Scandinavian state offers equal access to education. Every school gets funded by the government, so no private expenditures accrue for anything related to tuition. Warm lunch, transport, books and other materials are sponsored by the schools. Children of all clientele have the same access to high quality education. Even adults get free further education or vocational training.
The key topics of the Finnish curriculum are mathematics, linguistic proficiency, natural sciences, information society and internationalization. Furthermore the education focuses on the individual as a whole and not only on his/her academic performance. Hence playing is an important aspect of school in order to develop social competencies. Each educational institution has an immense freedom in configuration of their curriculum. Because of that, teachers are able to establish alternative teaching methods and unconventional tuition environments. According to the Finnish Ministry of Education digitalization and reformation of the class room are prospective priorities.
Because of pedagogical freedom the teachers cooperate continuously to discuss about different teaching methods. They build networks to develop and share collective ideas. Consequently the quality and diversity of tuition increases constantly. The system is already bearing fruit. 65% of Finnish SHS graduates attend tertiary education. Moreover Finland has the lowest illiteracy rate worldwide.
The alternative approaches in the Finnish school system are focusing very much on individualization instead of standardization. While focusing on each child and its specific preconditions to learn, educational institutions are well-appointed with modern technologies. Aiming at the interests of the children, school tries to create a comfortable environment, adjust to the highest technological standard and not only to convey a comprehensive general knowledge but also to depict correlations between different topics and subjects.
Most students are using laptops or tablets as diaries or weblogs. These electronic portfolios are online accessible and contain pictures, presentations, texts and videos. This leads to less paper consumption and some schools even use no paper at all because of eBooks. Furthermore the class rooms provide a suitable environment for students to learn in an unconstrained, comfortable way. Children are given the appropriate time and facilities to play and learn together. Some classes look more like a lounge than a class room. Since 2016/17 schools can voluntarily decide to teach phenomenon-based-learning (PBL) only instead of separated subjects. Until 2020 this mandatory addition to the common curriculum is supposed to become an essential element in the education of every student between 7 and 16 years. PBL means basically interdisciplinary tuition based on project-orientated group work. In senior classes students can choose specific projects depending on their work prospects and interests. Teachers get further vocational training and wage benefits for deciding to acquaint pupils with phenomenon-based-learning.
This remarkable reform shall promote a holistic world view and encourage 21st century skills such as collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking. It supports individual responsibility and self-reliance which are essential qualities of a mature person in a democratic society. Furthermore these independent values consolidate economic autarchy and cooperation in terms of entrepreneurship, joint ventures and interrelation spanning various classes of business.
According to World Economic Forum of 2016 Finland is one of the countries with the best prior conditions to distinguish itself in a digitalized world. The infrastructure of the Finnish information and communication technology has been one of the best worldwide for years. Remaining true to the progressive technological standard this education system tries to prepare students to rise to the modern challenges of global communication and information technology in our post-industrialized world.
When pedagogical freedom is suppressed, the progress of tuition stops. The welfare state trap has snapped shut by the time the government condescends to its employees and associations. Generally Ghana holds the requirements for a good education though the implementation of efficient laws and regulations is missing. But because the Ghanaian people are independent, the private sector tries to compensate the flaws of its state-run counterpart. Education should be free for everybody. However it is very costly. Indeed the government pumps money into the system. Notwithstanding it constrains the institutions’ room for development. The greatest issue is the earmarked financing of schools that should create a fr
ee and safe education but instead cannot ensure a fair salary of teachers or basic school facilities. Therefore the outdated curriculum is not feasible and child abuse is a commonly used solution. Education needs a sustainable funding and ministration to be the driving force of economic prosperity and evolvement of a society in order to consist in the globalized world of tomorrow.
