Opinions of Sunday, 29 April 2018

Columnist: Musah Abdul Razak Churchill

Ghana's education needs education

Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education of Minister Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Education of Minister

I become worried when I see the young ones still learning the principles and theorems of dead people instead of doing more to what is done.

I feel pity for the young ones when I see them memorizing words, definitions and sentences they do not understand.

I feel sorry for the country when I see most of its students not being able to 'think' outside the box. They only learn the courses, subjects and definitions given to them. They don't bother themselves to learn outside what is taught in class.

It sounded ridiculous when a childhood friend told me he had gotten A1 in English. Meanwhile in reality, he cannot neither write nor speak English impeccably. He is the type of people the country wants anyway. Laughable.

It is very pathetic to still be tagging students who memorize what they do not understand and solve past questions as the 'intelligent' belittling the few who cannot memorize but can think.

I become confused when I see students being taught something without seeing the things physically. No wonder a student can state the uses and give some pieces of information about burettes but cannot select it from many scientific apparatus.

I always wonder why we still learn things that have nothing to do in real life. Such is 'Pythagoras theorem' in Mathematics.

I still cannot understand why attention is not given to the informal aspect of education, practical aspect to be precise.Rather,we are producing more academicians with only few jobs.No wonder unemployment is still not dealt with.

If other countries have seen farther than Ghana, then it is because their education system is structured to meet the needs of the present environment.

Ghana's education needs education now!