Education in Africa: An Administrator's Perspective

One of the top headlines in most of the news media nowadays is about unemployment. This topic of unemployment has also taken a key space in most of the speeches across the country in public and private universities. A new report by the World Bank on unemployment in Ghana has revealed that about 48 percent of Ghanaians between the ages of 15-24 do not have jobs. (source: http://pulse.com.gh/business/unemployment-in-ghana-48-of-ghanaian-youth-jobless-world-bank-report-id5026856.html) The report, " The Landscape of Jobs in Ghana ", touched on ways of finding opportunities for youth inclusion in Ghana's labour market. “In Ghana, youth are less likely than adults to be working: in 2012, about 52% of people aged 15-24 were employed (compared to about 90% for the 25-64 population), a third were in school, 14% were inactive and 4% were unemployed actively looking for job. Young women in the same age group are particularly disadvantaged and have much higher inactivity ...

Below are my remarks during launch of National 30 km Road Baton Relay at Accra Sports Stadium, Accra on 13th May 2016. The Baton Relay was launched by Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports (Republic of Ghana), Hon. Vincent Oppong Asamoah (on my right). Athletics have always been an essential component of a liberal education. Schools that offer more sports and field more successful teams produce higher test scores and graduation rates, research shows. There is a relatively consistent body of research showing that students who participate in athletics tend to fare significantly better both in school and in later life. Participating in sports, like playing in the school band or competing on the debate team, are cognitively and organizationally demanding activities that help convey self-discipline and leadership skills. This is especially true for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition, it has also been found that schools that offer more sports and field more ...

As we witness the start of 2016 today, I am sure all of us in the education sector in Ghana would have done their analysis of business performance for 2015, which was affected by Ebola, impact of low oil prices on the economy, currency devaluation across Africa and many other factors which were not in an institution’s control. One of the major factor which impacted university enrollments across Ghana was turbulence in Nigerian economy. I am sure all of us agree on the fact that majority of the international students studying in Ghanaian private colleges (university colleges) are from Nigeria, any disturbance there is having a direct impact on the enrolment graphs in Ghana. Despite these challenges, there were institutions that performed well by introducing innovative ideas in their recruitment and retention strategies. I remember one of the well-known institutions in Accra with majority of foreign students partnering with a bank to complete student’s verification process on their ...

After putting my thoughts together to start writing blogs on education scenario in Ghana, I encouraged myself to start with my own experience of encounters with academia in last few years. One of the topics making round in the academic circle nowadays is critical thinking. Suddenly in the last couple of years, this “new” thinking approach has gained a lot of momentum in content development in private universities of Ghana. By heading one of private colleges here, I was also not left untouched with this force of critical thinking. I have always believed since my early days of career, that to think critically on any of the issues is a way to make effective and well informed decisions. Through my interaction with numerous programme panels across multiple content development and approval processes, I was really energized by the strength in which almost all members emphasized on the importance of teaching Critical Thinking across all undergraduate programmes in Ghana. I also total...