Education in Post-colonial Ghana

Education in Post-colonial Ghana
Author: G. M. Osei
Publisher:
Total Pages: 176
Release: 2009
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The prospect of redistributing power from central government offices to local actors and organisations has repeatedly tantalised academics, politicians and policy makers promulgating decentralisation measures in hopes that such action would cure the social and economic ills faced by their policies. Education planners in Accra regarded decentralisation as an important strategy for raising the quality and status of Ghanian education. The Ministry of Education (MOE) was depending on the local content curriculum (LCC) to achieve many things. As MOE officials observed, however, the success or failure of the reform essentially depended on the actions of classroom teachers. Even if plans for the reform were carefully designed and communicated by experts in Accra, goals for the reform would not be met unless teachers implemented the reform as envisioned by its authors. When the Ghanian government enacted the LCC reform it was depending on classroom teachers to take a leading role in the process of educational decentralisation. The one goal that all members of the system appeared to have most thoroughly absorbed was the notion that as a result of the changes outlined in LCC policy documents, the curriculum in Ghanian schools should more closely mesh with local conditions. St. Aquinas junior high school, a private Catholic institution was the only school I visited where teachers were willing to question and modify policies created in Accra. Rather than obediently follow instructions from Accra, St. Aquinas employees reshaped MOE policies to meet their own educational philosophies and objectives. My research indicates that the MOE has not yet commenced to rebuild the culture of education to fit the new vision of teaching and learning it is promoting. Instead, it is attempting to append the LCC reform to an existing core, with only minor modifications.

Schooling and Education in Africa

Schooling and Education in Africa
Author: George Jerry Sefa Dei
Publisher: Africa World Press
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2004
Genre: Community and school
ISBN: 9781592210039

Using the Ghanian schooling experience as a case study, this book explores how research can contribute to the development of a body of knowledge for educational change in Africa. Education in Africa is often said to be in a crisis' caused in part by the colonial legacy, but also due to inappropriate and uncontextualised current educational policies in relation to local human conditions and African realities. This book offers a critical analysis of current educational reform strategies and the actual practice of reform in an African context.'

Nima-Maamobi in Ghana's Postcolonial Development

Nima-Maamobi in Ghana's Postcolonial Development
Author: Charles Prempeh
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2022-07-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956552216

This book provides a deep insight into the socio-economic reality and complexity of two of Ghana's largest slums - Nima and Maamobi - located in the capital city, Accra. It identifies and analyses the socio-religious, cultural and political contexts of the two communities. These are ethnically and religiously diverse populations with a common history of migration and integration. The book shows that the causes of economic stagnation and underdevelopment in the two slums are deeply contextualised, complex and nuanced. Through a biographical examination of the political activism of Agnes Amoah, a foremost local leader, the book brings to bear how Mrs. Amoah also brought socio-economic transformation to the communities by breaking cultural, religious and gender barriers in the interest of conviviality. In context, the book sheds important insight on the urban, political and the local and translocal histories that have shaped the social transformations of Nima and Maamobi.

State-Building and Multilingual Education in Africa

State-Building and Multilingual Education in Africa
Author: Ericka A. Albaugh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2014-04-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1139916777

How do governments in Africa make decisions about language? What does language have to do with state-building, and what impact might it have on democracy? This manuscript provides a longue durée explanation for policies toward language in Africa, taking the reader through colonial, independence, and contemporary periods. It explains the growing trend toward the use of multiple languages in education as a result of new opportunities and incentives. The opportunities incorporate ideational relationships with former colonizers as well as the work of language NGOs on the ground. The incentives relate to the current requirements of democratic institutions, and the strategies leaders devise to win elections within these constraints. By contrasting the environment faced by African leaders with that faced by European state-builders, it explains the weakness of education and limited spread of standard languages on the continent. The work combines constructivist understanding about changing preferences with realist insights about the strategies leaders employ to maintain power.

The Impacts of Language and Literacy Policy on Teaching Practices in Ghana

The Impacts of Language and Literacy Policy on Teaching Practices in Ghana
Author: Philomena Osseo-Asare
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 159
Release: 2021-03-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000363317

This text critically examines changes in Ghanaian language and literacy policy following independence in 1957 to consider its impacts on early literacy teaching. By adopting a postcolonial theoretical perspective, the text interrogates the logic behind policy changes which have prioritised English, local language, or biliteracy. It draws on data from interviews with teachers and researcher observation to demonstrate how policies have influenced teaching and learning. Dr Osseo-Asare’s findings inform the development of a conceptual framework which highlights the socio-cultural factors that impact the literacy and biliteracy of young children in Ghana, offering solutions to help teachers combat the challenges of frequent policy changes. This timely monograph will prove to be an essential resource not only for researchers working on education policies, teacher education, and English-language learning in postcolonial Ghana but also for those looking to identify the thematic and methodological nuances of studying literacy and education in postcolonial contexts.

Whose Education For All?

Whose Education For All?
Author: Birgit Brock-Utne
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 591
Release: 2002-06-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135578281

Since 1990, when the phrase "education for all" was first coined at the World Bank conference in Jomtien, Thailand, a battle has raged over its meaning and its impact on education in Africa. In this thought-provoking new volume, Dr. Brock-Utne argues that "education for all" really means "Western primary schooling for some, and none for others." Her incisive analysis demonstrates how this construct robs Africans of their indigenous knowledge and language, starves higher education in Africa, and thereby perpetuates Western dominion. In Dr. Brock-Utne's words, "A quadrangle building has been erected in a village of round huts."

The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born

The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born
Author: Ayi Kwei Armah
Publisher: Heinemann
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1988
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780435905408

A beginners' guide to the fundamentals of the Dru meditation technique, a method for soothing the mind and relaxing the emotions. The programme includes six short guided meditations designed to instill a sense of profound stillness, quieten and calm a stressed mind and reconnect with the important aspects of life. Each nine-minute meditations is based on one of the elements: Earth, Water, Light, Air and Sky.

Gender, Sexuality and Decolonization in Postcolonial Ghana

Gender, Sexuality and Decolonization in Postcolonial Ghana
Author: Charles Prempeh
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2023-01-19
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 9956553735

Since the turn of the millennium, in Ghana and in other African countries, there has been a vociferous debate over the history and present condition of the family. The debate has largely fragmented the Ghanaian constituency into two nearly intransigent camps: those who think the indigenous family system should experience cultural osmosis to accommodate the seismic Western cultural revolutions and the overwhelming religious constituency who advocate the retention of conservative family system. This book is a contribution to the debate. Written by an African Studies academic, it seeks to use the resources of both the social sciences and religion to assess the merits of the various parties to the debate. The author believes in the legitimacy of the traditional family system as conditio sine qua non for preserving human civilization. Nevertheless, the goal of this book is not to further polarize the Ghanaian front, but build bridges, by inviting the various parties to the debate to walk the complex pathways of exercising compassion without compromising the values that support human flourishing. Charles Prempeh is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Cultural and African Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.

Education, Social Progress, and Marginalized Children in Sub-Saharan Africa

Education, Social Progress, and Marginalized Children in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Obed Mfum-Mensah
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2017-05-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 149854570X

This book employs sociohistorical, narrative, and discourse frameworks to discuss the sociopolitical complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in sub-Saharan Africa since western education was introduced in the region. It outlines the systemic and structural challenges faced by marginalized children in the education system that prevent them from fully participating in the education process. This book focuses on how the props underlying Christian missionary education, colonial education, and early postcolonial educational enterprise all served to marginalize certain groups, including women, some geographical regions and/or communities, such as Islamic communities and people with disabilities, from the colonial and postcolonial economic discourses. This historical background provides the springboard for discussions on the complexities and ambiguities of educating marginalized groups in some communities in sub-Saharan Africa in the contemporary times. This book also highlights the challenges of the recent policies of policy makers and the strategies and initiatives of civic societies, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to promote marginalized children’s participation in education. This book elucidates the varied ways certain groups and communities continue to interrogate the structural and systemic challenges that marginalize them educationally. It argues that the level of marginalized groups’ participation in education in sub-Saharan African in the 21st century will determine the progress the region will make in the Education for All (EFA) initiative and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Furthermore, it argues that increasing educational participation in marginalized communities requires implementation of educational programs that address marginalized groups’ structural social arrangements and socioeconomic contexts.