I deem it necessary to step up to project the rather urgent need for a change of attitude towards education in this country. Many people educated in Ghana over the past half century have left Ghana to acquired additional knowledge and expertise becoming giants in their fields of endeavour the world over.
Good example are Kofi Annan of the UN, Dr. Peter Atadja of Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Ave Kludze of NASA and the list goes on.These clearly answer the question on whether people of Ghanaian origin and Africans for that matter are intellectually capable. Alot more evidence continue to accumulate that totally disperse any contention that Ghana and Africa own its current state of underdevelopment to lack of creative thinking abilities.
Purpose of education
The value of education to a human being resides in two important points, firstly the transformation of the human mind from crude to structured or a refined form and secondly the acquisition of the capability to transform ones surroundings into a form that increases quality of life. It is in the second point lies a clear demonstration of concept of purpose driven education.
The key question that anybody in the educational sector need to always ask is "for what purpose is this quest for knowledge and understanding? A quote from the Bible will explain what the purpose should be for any society seeking enlightenment and training for its people. When the time came for God to instruct the people of Israel to build the tent of meeting and ark of the covenant, God said to Moses in Exodus 31:3 -"and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts". And in verse 6 of the same chapter it says "Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you".
In this situation God choose to build the capacity of the workmen involved in the project of constructing the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony by filling them with His Spirit. Society today builds the capacity of its people through education and training for the many different project necessary to build the structures and create the substance our lives depend on.
Therefore, the delivery of educational services must be bench marked not by the grades awarded but rather the various project targets in specialised fields. Case in point is the training of automobile engineers in this country.
The fact that courses in automobile engineering is offered in the Polytechnics and KNUST should reflect on the performance and longevity of our cars. Any one who owns a car can concur with me, without subjecting this issue to scientific polling and statistical analysis, that the current situation strongly suggest that the level and scope of training in automobile engineering is far lower that what is needed.
