An Open Letter To The Education Minister On Current UTAG Strike by Randy Edudzi Ahadzi.
Friday, March 4, 2022
In his write up, he expressed his worries about the challenges facing the education sector of the country and also suggested some possible ways to curb the menace.
Below is the letter,
Dear honorable Minister (Dr Adutwum), I bring you warm felicitations from my small village called Ho, the regional capital of the Volta Region. Sir, I must say, I have been one of the many or should I say rather few who wanted so dearly your appointment as a substantive education minister after you served under Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh (NAPO) as his deputy .
Infact, Sir, I remember I met you at a workshop for journalists some years ago at Acknac Hotel, in Accra, and my love and admiration for your hardwork skyrocketed. Your approach to issues on free SHS back then was fantastic and I always applauded you anytime the press gets in touch with you.Your gentle smiles and general composure in front of the cameras even in the midst of challenges always tells me how calm and patient you are as a person. Doc, as a very small and tiny boy who has been cleaning the shoes of elderly but wise men in society, running errands for them whenever needed and holding bowl of food for these same elderly men to eat, I have at least learned how to talk to them with utmost decorum and such will reflect in the details.
So take a chilled glass of water if that's fine by you or kindly order my favorite 'Daavi Phiney Aliha', I can get that delivered to you for free.
But Sir, don't you think you are loosing it as the head now? Sir, don't you think the education system is in total disarray? The basic schools have been running a new curriculum for almost three (3) years without textbooks backing teaching & learning and you are not bothered? I would be surprised if your are totally oblivious of the situation. But since you know and are well briefed occasionally by directors within the various districts, regions and even the press, the intention is clear. You simply don’t care. Sir, before I continue, do you have any biological child attending any of these public schools, popularly known as "syto"? Uh well, you can choose to answer or not but I am so worried because I have my siblings who are attending these schools and the challenges they have been going through are just enormous and frustrating. I am worried. The future of the next generation is in jeopardy and something must be done immediately. Sir, the gimmick must stop. Get to work!
What has changed? Dr Adutwum, many, even from the political divide believed in you oooo.... Me I will tell you....Dr, with all due respect, was it the same way you attended the school to the stage you are now? You think, with the current traffic light senior high school format can help my siblings become doctors just like you? Ooh with the traffic light, I mean to say, students go to school in tracks that has lost its rhythm due to the policy inefficiencies. Certainly, this is not what Ghanaians bargained for. Hmmm,uh well, let's leave that for another lesson period, since all you have been doing lately has been lessons lessons lesson’s.
Let's zoom into the substantive laaa, Dr, are you truly on top of your job as the Minister in charge of Education? If yes, then Sir, are you aware that our university lecturers have been on strike for almost six (6) weeks since schools resumed early part of January 2022?
Have you taken time to listen to their plights? Aarh, or you simply don't care? The carelessness is becoming overwhelming Sir. So I ask again, do you have any of your biological wards in any of these public universities? Well, ameganye, ameganye in my local palance means boss, so boss, perhaps you didn't know, so let me humbly tell you, but bear in mind, that will also mean you ain't on top of your job oooo....
But for the benefit of doubt, let me tell you, public university lecturers in Ghana have been on strike since January and they have been making some important and urgent demands. The same issue of poor salary structure and terrible conditions of service. Sir, you have taught before in the United States and you mean you can’t simply replicate the essential ingredients that make that system as robust as it is? If the conditions were porous you would not have find the teaching job there attractive. So my question is why not institutionalize same structures here? You are more than a technocrat because your experience and knowledge of the sector is unquestionable. Why have you become a politician so quickly? To the extent that teachers are teaching without textbooks! And again, if my memory serves me right, I recollect sometime in 2012, (UTAG) reached an agreement with government in which they were promised an entry level lecturer’s salary of more than $2,000 per month.
Unfortunately, this offer to restore some decency in academia has been scorned. Lecturers have turned so low on the social and economic ladder that government no longer listens to them. It's a pity. Men and women who trained the same ministers.
Sir, I had a conversation with one lecturer and he mentioned to me that becoming a lecturer in Ghana should not be equated to living a life of penury.
The position of lecturer should be accorded some respect, fairness, and prestige. Lecturers are leaving for other professions in large numbers and you think all is well? This predominantly remains the only reason for the brain drain because the system has become porous and unattractive so astute academics who can impact knowledge in the next generation will always prefer to ply their trade elsewhere. But ei, are you the same Dr. Adutwum? Sir, with all due respect, kindly check from the immediate neighbors how much their lecturers earn, compare and contrast, come back and tell me the truth whether indeed our lecturers deserve better or not? Ghanaian lecturers are among the most poorly paid in Africa and not even limited to our immediate neighbors. I therefore think that our inertia in issues concerning the conditions of service for our lecturers is a big time indictment, and the fact is, a time bomb ready to blast right under your watch as minister in charge. Dr, let me not bore you too much with my lines wai, but take these things seriously, the expectation now from the rank and file of UTAG, is implementation! Implementation!! implementation!!! and nothing less. Enough of the table discussions because we have been doing this since time immemorial. We don’t need surgeon to conduct a surgical evisceration into our educational issues because we know them already. All we need is action! I am not trying to suggest that education under this administration is fraught with challenges only under this NPP administration. The astuteness and knowledge you exude made us repose the humongous confidence in you. You know the right things, Sir. Implement them and show good faith. This will also provide the right frame of mind for our lecturers to freely teach when they get back. At this point sir, you still believe they don't deserve better? The fact is that you need them than they need you because the chicken change is not an enough motivation. Sanitize the sector now. Restore sanity now. Salvage our education now, Sir!
In the mean time ,let me pause here and go back to my hustling field but sir , I am watching to see how best you will handle this situation.
Yours faithfully
Ahadzi Edudzi Randy
Ho