Raising the Standard of Education in a Challenging Economic Environment: the Case of Adisadel College
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ADISADEL OLD BOYS ASSOCIATION 1st RT ORLEANS POBEE MEMORIAL LECTURE VEL PRIMUS VEL CUM PRIMIS RAISING THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN A CHALLENGING ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF ADISADEL COLLEGE PRESENTED BY NANA ATO DADZIE (CV) ESQ EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR, CENTER FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION/GH INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL TRANSITION CONSULTANT (SANTA ’68) INTRODUCTION OF THE MAN RT ORLEANS - POBEE Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, all protocol observed, it is an incredible honour to have been chosen by my peers and to stand here to address my schoolmates and the public on the occasion of the 1st Memorial Public Lecture to honour Mr. Robert Thompson Orleans Pobee, one of the greatest sons of the school, Adisadel College, and iconic headmaster of one of the greatest schools in the world. Adisadel College has over one hundred years’ history in teaching and raising children to become meaningful and responsible adults; taking senior leadership position in our country Ghana and the world at large. R T Orleans - Pobee was not only a former student of Adisadel but he grew up to be the 1st Ghanaian headmaster of the college. Indeed my year group in 1963 were his first students’ intake as headmaster. He ended up not only as “Mr. Headmaster” the only Headmaster my year mates ever knew in Adisadel College; but the very embodiment of the school. From 1963 to 1974, RTOP was not only synonymous with Adisadel College but also an institution by himself. Adisadel College was a mission sponsored school built through the physical strength of its pioneer students 108 years ago. A self-made school, Adisadel College has always basked in the comfort of the salubrious Cape Coast community; it’s PTA and it’s active, vibrant and almost fanatical old boys (popularly referred to as old Santaclausians) named after the spiritual mentor of the school “St. Nicholas”. Our school ode has spiritual connotations. It immediately “possesses “and imparts into anyone who passes through the school as a student the objective of the school ie to be - “either the first or with the first - vel primus vel cum primis” in all spheres of life whether in play or prayer or work - ours is to be the first or with the first. Over a century, the old boys have been a great source of sustenance to the school at times a lifeline for the students. They also provide 1 immeasurable leadership and role modelling for incumbent students. The Adisadel ‘’spirit’’ is simply infectious. It defies ethnic, religious, political, social, economic and geographical boundaries. It crosses oceans and seas and wherever it lands, the value and verve are the same. I recall at a political meeting in Ghana at the highest level, a very senior political figure cut in to ask me: Why? Didn’t you attend any school apart from Adisadel College? Apparently irritated by my constant references to Adisco standards in punctuality , decency in dressing , our fighting and collegiate spirit , our high educational standards, our voluntarism and our public spiritedness imbued in us by the school under our only ‘’Headmaster ‘’ Mr. R.T. Orleans –Pobee’’ . He made men out of us from 12 years and 13 years of age. At a naming ceremony recently in Washington, I was pleasantly overwhelmed when the officiating priest suddenly burst out into the Adisadel School ode, when two Kwabotwe boys made the mistake to tease me as an Adisco boy! Three of us, the officiating priest, my nephew Kojo Bin (Santa 99) and I teamed up in uproarious rounds of the school ode and the school anthem which filled and shook the very foundations of the event hall. We were equally surprised at the infectious spiritual nuances of these anthems as the rest of the guest including my now miserable Kwabotwe agent provocateurs joined in the mass rendition and recall of the Adisadel spirit, far away in the USA. Of course, I was the instant choir master. The officiating priest, turned out to be Senior Atiemo (Elliot House) 2 years my senior and a great Adisadel hockey laureate. I initially could not make him out, but we teamed up to freshen the atmosphere in Washington DC ; 5,266 miles away from Adisadel College and more than 50 years after leaving the school. Mr. Chairman, I submit that the old boy support system which was greatly promoted by Mr. RT Orleans - Pobee of blessed memory is still relevant and beneficial not only to the physical growth of the school but also 2 ensures a balanced growth, a sense of responsibility to a higher and noble cause of serving one’s school and society and making life worthwhile for incumbent students. Education which merely produces highly educated citizens with no sense of responsibility to neighbour and society produces anti-social characters, unfit for the society. In measuring the standard of education of a student in particular in this realm , Mr. RT Orleans- Pobee alias “Paa Colo” will refer to such persons as “waste pipes” - useless and worthless citizens and good for nothing ; a waste of educational resources. For Mr. Orleans- Pobee, educational standard should not be measured by only the statistical figures of number of Grade I’s or II achieved by a student or a school, but among others the high moral, ethical, all-round, balanced and responsible citizenry the school produces. Herein lies the greatness of Adisadel College, its history and the laurels of its 1st Ghanaian Headmaster, RT Orleans - Pobee aka “Paa Colo” whom we are celebrating today with this 1st ever Anniversary Lecture. As we remember our distinguished Headmaster who grounded us as men …May I please request that we please rise for a minute silence in his memory. The topic: RAISING THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION IN A CHALLENGING ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT - THE CASE OF ADISADEL COLLEGE; this immediately raises 2 clear assumptions: 1. First, that the standard of Education in Ghana has fallen and needs to be raised and 2. Second, that the required actions to raise the standard of Education are within a challenging Economic Environment. Mr. Chairman this conversation between Ghanaians is located within the Ghanaian Economy. That Ghana’s economy is challenged is neither new 3 nor news - with a projected net annual budget deficit of 4.5%, an average inflation rate of 9.8% and overall GDP of 6.8% Ghana’s economy is indeed challenged (BNFT 10-10-2018). Recent Barclays Bank Ghana in its macro-economic Update 19 Sept 2018 states: "Moody sees Ghana’s debt to GDP expanding to 72.4 % by 2018 year end (on account of the costs associated with the recent banking sector bailout). In a note in August 2018, Moody states that this is higher level than previously anticipated, and the debt burden is likely to ease to 68.9% only by the end of 2019". As Inflation inches up, the outlook is fragile. This independent professional assessment of the country’s economy inter alia may have urged the State President, HE Nana Akuffo Addo to make admission (date) that the economy was under pressure. The stark fact is that in the short to medium term Ghana's economy as it stands may not be able to carry the burden of huge costs involved in implementing and sustaining large social projects such as the Free SHS project. In Ghana and most of sub-Saharan Africa, the primary responsibility of safeguarding quality education lies with the government as the initiator of policy, setter of standards, and the allocator of public resources as well as the quality assurer. Government’s role includes training of teachers of high quality and sufficient numbers and other education personnel; provision of infrastructure, including simple water, electricity and toilets, as well an enabling environment that allows for effective teaching and learning. Quality education is possible when parents and community actively participate in supporting the system and the aims of education as they have been clearly communicated to these critical interested stakeholders. Learners play their role when they can understand what is being taught and when on their own, they can apply its precepts. In other words, education must be of relevance to the learner to avoid rote learning. The 4 quality of education is as good as the quality of the teacher. Reducing the number of teacher trainees required for political expediency is to deal a death blow to a country with a huge youth bulge. All voices seem to agree that Education is the key to development and we will establish our argument with three quotes each from two people whose voices we all respect: According to the late UN General Secretary His Excellency Kofi Annan: ▪ “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family”; ▪ “Education is a human right with immense power to transform”; ▪ “Literacy unlock the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship”. And, distinguished colleagues, this is how the great leader His Excellency Nelson Mandela sees education: ▪ “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated”; ▪ “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world”; ▪ “Education is the great engine of personal development. He went on further to make this famous quote: “It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mine worker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” GLOBAL CONTEXT At the global level, education has been kept at the centre of universal preoccupations.