Muse

The other day, my hustle took me to one of the uppity areas of the country and by extension, Galaxy International School, Ashaley Botwe. Even though the area is almost getting crowded by the hustle and bustle of inhabitants who are mostly vending by the roadside to the real owners of the place, their activities still seem regulated and under control unlike Kwashieman, Kotobabi, Russia, Teshie and all other areas where humans and their activities sprout like Amazonian flora in a rainy season.

I got there and asked to see my contact who seems to have notified the security detail of my arrival. A few questions were asked and I was allowed to come through their tight security of a gate that seems to have a sophistication than most of our national installations and I dare mention our courts on top of the list, where a clock was stolen while proceedings were ongoing. I walked through the vast compound to the reception like a lonely soul trying to make it across the desert, except I was assured that I won't be accosted or lynched at any given moment. There seems to be no one on the premises, neither were classes going on. I wish I could liken the silence on campus to a cemetery, but since the likes of Awudome and our very own Mile Eleven have defied the odds and taken away the quietude that characterizes cemeteries, I'll pass.

Then here I was in an enclosed space which I immediately recognized as the reception because it had a colorful box situated in the middle of the place, flanked by some fluffy and stuffy chairs at the far ends of the room. There was also a cupboard displaying the spoils of their exploits - trophies and laurels, and then there was a big Television screen at an almost obscure place when I'm yet to find one of those phase out 20inch hunched TVs in the staff common rooms of most public schools. Saying I was impressed would be an understatement. I was actually happy for the one I had gone to visit; that he lives in this environment all day every day except on vacations and that's only because man's not hot.

The whole time, I was there, I didn't hear any noise from any of the classrooms that were situated on the first floor and up above, like you would if you were anywhere around the Kotobabi and Alajo cluster of schools as though school was not in session. The whole place looked disciplined and even at those ages, the students seem to know what they had come to do in the school i.e. to learn. I almost wanted to compare my school of yesteryears to this one where I was cozily resting in their sofa, but I wasn't going to feed my muse by throwing a pity party. I'm a progressive, so I won't even start on how you were always distracted by the minimal noise coming from around the school. I won't go on about the kenkey seller across the classroom who could scream herself hoarse calling to her help, Adjeley, just because she exists and lives with her. I won’t mention the aroma that diffuses into our classrooms like the frankincense that was burnt at Jesus’ manger in Bethlehem. I won't talk about the hawkers who were advertising their ware the whole time classes were in session not to talk of the wide windows that could pass for auditorium doors at the conference centre. It was as bad as it could be.

It's just occurring to me that things were the way they were because I never recalled any Parent Teacher's Association meeting going on during my three years stay and even if it did, it possibly was on my blind side. It's the kind of schools where the students don't even think beyond ten years, not to talk of knowing what they were on about in this world. It's the kind of school you attend only because it makes your parents happy, where they also pretend that paying the change of a school fees was their greatest achievement.

To quote Jah Cure, "if education is the key, why are the bigger heads making it expensive for us?" Why are our leaders toying with our future only to turn around and pretend as though we are not products of their leadership? They label us as incapable, not futuristic, and apathetic towards nation building and what have you and they think it's funny. Elsewhere, I know these leaders are visited with mayhem but this is Ghana and we are self-respecting and mindful of ourselves and the future of the nation.

We can't continue paying lip service to our education if we are planning to fit into the global space of politicking, Commerce, IT and Engineering. We can't continue allowing third grade teachers who can hardly spell or unaware of their environment beyond their community to train our future leaders. We can't continue to be teaching our future leaders that the head is used to carry loads. We have to equip them such that by the time school is over, they are ready to offload. They are ready to play into the global space where technology has almost integrated everyone as long as they are willing to. We can't continue to deepen the gap between the rich and the poor by allowing the former to pay as close as Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢20,000) and the latter to attend some free kind of school which we will tout at the highest citadel of our nation. We can’t continue talking about education being manned by leaders who claim to be shaping our future and yet don't find the need or decency to shape that of their children but to send them abroad to get education that can readily get them space in the global discussion.

Let’s prioritize education and talk some more about it in hopes of changing our fortune as a nation. 

 

 Writer Tweets @vilejah