An Education

In Ghana, people do not question the importance of education. They do not denigrate their schools and speak of how terrible they are. Teachers are never spoken of as failures and degenerates.  Many Ghanaians, young and old, have an appreciation for education and for attending school. 

Ghanaians do some things quite well. They are not afraid to change the basic infrastructure and design of their school system, from what age kids should start to how many years they spend in elementary, middle and high school. They have high regard for their teachers and appreciate what they are doing on such a limited budget. In fact, teachers are so highly regarded that when he Ghanaian parliament heard we were coming they agreed to meet with us and even had 13 members of the education sub-committee in attendance to ask questions and answer those that we asked.

One Ghanaian parliament member said, 'The average Ghanaian child is just as smart as everyone else, so long as they have the tools to succeed and do well.' Whoa.

This is not to say that they are perfect. When learning curriculum, students are using rote memorization, rather than learning to question and analyze. There is minimal technology.  And I suspect that there is a high level of corruption when placing students in their secondary schools (all students test into schools, rather than attend the one of their choice- there are still some very strong communist undertones here, which is another story all together).

Regardless, while I am here, I must retain the view that I am not here to make others better, but that I am to become better from others.

Some pictures from our school visit today in Okoba...