A STUDENT IN SCHOOL, A SLAVE AFTER SCHOOL

By Joseph ‘Aqweci’ Ofori.

This article was published on Ghana Community Online "http://ghanacommunity.com/a-student-in-school-a-slave-after-school/"

Welcome to Ghana, a large arena for political battle. A country where “we are blessed with natural resources but we’re poor” is a cliché. A country where civilians are afraid of politicians. Viewing it from a different angle, a project agreement where the funder is afraid of the contractor. The ones who provided seats for wanderers are scared they might die while searching for a wall to lean their tired bodies.

I’m not here to discuss politics or the whatnots. These are the realities that any conscious being in Ghana reflects on frequently. Percentage of my worry is with education in Ghana. Why do you school? Why do you want to gain education?

Parents are advised to send their offsprings to school as soon as they birth them. Have you ever taken the pain to ask them why they take that step? I can affirm some parents won’t have anything reasonable to say. As a child, I thought attending school was mandatory, and I’d have been a social misfit if I wasn’t enrolled in an educational institution. At an age when I became fully alive, I had to thank my parents for putting me on that staircase and envision inventing a better version of an elevator to replace the staircase. Or probably, I could just search money all my life with what formal education offers me.

 

Ask an average Ghanaian student the main reason why he/she is going through the toil to get a certificate or degree, and the answer you’ll get is “to acquire money”. Money is the backbone of living, so does that mean the world should turn into a global land full of money searchers? What about the service you’re offering? People don’t care being governmental slaves all their lives. So far as it’s making their wallets fat, they don’t mind. Students complain about national leaders and tradition goes on when they take up those same seats. The educational system has been set up not to empower students but to make them conform to set regulations, and marginalize them. People with no visual impairment can’t even locate the box in daylight nonetheless to think outside it. As a student, the family that invests in you sees you as a fixed deposit, you must bring in extra cash by the time of duration. “Changing the world, making a better nation, and such sayings are not meant for people of this part of the world. You have to fend for your family. You have to endure”, said the system. The pressure is so much that tertiary students prepare their curriculum vitae during first year of enrollment. After national service, they spread it all around to secure a job because man must survive regardless. They get into those positions and the slave ship sails. Any matter of progression should be in line with money or they’re not interested.

These are new slaves, and money is the master of them. Money is a cunning slave master, it doesn’t strike whips. It employs the crippled system for assistance. The lives of the slaves are highly dependent on their master and all his employees. Hence they are left with no option and freedom than to serve the master, money! Elsewhere, people are inventing day-in and day-out with a mindset that they want to make life easier. Civil workers are not producing anything new here, it’s like as though they’re constantly playing on a merry-go-round as the riders substitute after some time. What happened to talents and potentials? How are we using it to build the nation?

The number of generational thinkers in this part of the world is negligible, not to mention of inventors. The healing of the country and the world at large depends on such people. People should grow their entrepreneurial spirit, focus more on saving the lives of others by brainstorming and developing potentials. Visions should be brought into reality. The slaves should take their chains off and sideline their master to defeat the non-enabling environment and system. People should have a purpose of attaining education. There’s more to life than just searching for money during all your energetic lifetime. Let’s explore our full potentials.

The educational backbone has to be calcified. The crippled national system has to be healed.

Think of it, have you done something to affect humanity positively? What new have you brought into the world or you’re just waiting on the new update or the current version of iPhone? Do you think about the future? Do you have a plan for it? After answering these questions put up efforts to make life better.