GHANA: A NATION AND ITS CHILDREN

Checking child migration to the cities — some suggestions

Children swarming around cars and trotros at every set of traffic lights, selling pure water, chewing gums, pens and the like is a fact of life in Accra.
It has become an all too familiar sight, as such, an element of nonchalance and flippancy often creeps into our attitudes towards the issue.

But what is being done and what more can be done to make it more of a distant memory and less of a daily reality? As in any nation, tomorrow depends upon the children of today. In a nation such as Ghana — brimming with potential yet to be fully realised, but so riddled with and crippled by problems, it is unable to reach its potential, it really is down to future generations. They must continue to purge the nation of corruption, poverty and disease, which are the ropes that tie Ghana down, along with so many other African nations.
Mrs Marilyn Amponsah-Annan, the Director of the International Desk at the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, cites many of the problems that affect children, as stemming from poverty and irresponsible parenting. She perceives the breakdown of the family structure and the decrease of neighbourly behaviour; trends that characterise modern times across the globe, as key issues leading to problems for children. The timeless trend of migration to the city, which has been a predicament in many countries; the “streets are paved with gold” mentality, is a problem in Ghana. As Mrs Amponsah-Annan believes, in the city, it is not so easy to feel a community bond, and “your care becomes your own care.” This is how some children are slipping out of the reach of help.
But of course, we must not overstate the problem. It is no more than 10% of children that are on the streets, and yet as Mr Madeez Adamu-Isaah, an Assistant Project Officer at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) points out, even 1% would be too many. It is clear that we are failing some children, namely girls, and they are slipping through the net of the education system.
So what is being done?

Since Ghana's ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990 (Ghana being the first country south of the Sahara to ratify the convention), a great many measures have been implemented by the government, focusing on the rights of the child. Funds are being given to the cause and the government is co-ordinating with NGOs, faith-based organisations, civil society and development organisations.
Mrs Amponsah-Annan, for one, is hopeful that by this time next year, all children would be off the street and in some form of education.
Mr Adamu-Isaah cites poverty as an obvious factor explaining why the education system is neglecting some children, failing to accommodate them and their needs. Basic education uptil the age of fourteen is free and compulsory.
But although 60 % of children qualify to make the step up to secondary level, non-compulsory education, it is unclear how many children are actually able or want to take that step. Secondary education costs money for uniform, books, board, and many parents are unable to pay. The Capitation Grant Scheme has been set up by the government, supported by the World Bank to provide subsidies for students, to cover levies for sports, culture and uniform.
Some scholarships are at the disposal of local assemblies to enable children from the neediest families attend schools. However, for children who are not academic, but nonetheless have a lot to gain from some form of education, secondary schools are not the answer.
Mr Adamu-Isaah sees a further hurdle to the development of the education system to incorporate a non-formal element of vocational education that would enable children to gain skills other than those taught in academic schools: attitudes.

Attitudes
Attitudes need to change. Ghana must not fall into the same trap as many countries of the developed world. In the UK, in my opinion, far too much significance is placed by the government and civil society on academic qualifications and university degrees. Degrees and academia are not to be slighted, nor plumbing qualifications or knowledge of construction, which also come with education of a different kind. All levels of society must realise that they are mutually dependent. Where in my view, the west hasn't fully realised this, Ghana needs to.
As Mrs Amponsah-Annan believes, there must be a shift away from the idea of solely academic education being valuable and more focus given to vocational training. By 2004, she says, around 27,000 unemployed children had been trained and assisted in operating independently. The Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES) are in place as a non-formal education structure, for those children who wish to gain vocational skills that will increase their employability.

This shift in attitudes must start at grass-roots level, and the government is implementing measures to instigate this change. Community Children's Centres are to be established through district assemblies to train and develop the skills of children in their localities, to guide them and teach them to take pride in their own communities.
It is hoped that this will instil in children, a sense of patriotism and loyalty to their locality, and discourage migration to the city.

Parents
However, it is not solely with children that the chalice lies. Mr Adamu-Isaah perceives the attitudes of parents as a barrier to the success of the education system. Whereas in previous generations, formal education guaranteed employment at a top level, in government or the like, education and a top job no longer go hand in hand.
“Education leads to expectations” he says, and when these expectations are disappointed, then the perceivable value of education is lessened. But he realises that this is purely a perception, and the reality is not that education is less valuable, but that people must not expect direct, instant access to “the top” because of an education.
Mrs Amponsah-Annan is hopeful that the shift she sees in the younger generation towards a more entrepreneurial attitude towards careers, and less reliance upon top jobs in the government or institutions will alleviate some of the problems caused by this attitude. What is more, in some instances, vocational training would be of more use for children to achieve their potential. The belief of many parents that the financial struggle involved in educating their children past the basic level is futile, must change.
Mrs Amponsah-Annan cites the importance of women in advancing the education system and alleviating the problem of child migration to the city. Women need more of a voice at local level, they need to gain empowerment through skills training and funds or “soft loans” to generate incomes of their own.
Mrs Amponsah-Annan believes that women and children alike must be made aware of the basic right of children to quality education. Women must be educated to realise the value and right to education of their children and to instil this same awareness of the right to knowledge and skills in their children.

To be optimistic, we must share the hope of Mrs Amponsah-Annan that the situation is improving and will only continue to do so.
There is no question that measures must continue to be implemented to reduce child migration to the city, giving them a pride in their localities and local skills, and reducing the number of children slipping through the net.
Vocational training must be valued alongside academic education and parents must realise the rights of their children to an education, and must strive, aided by the help of the government and others, to give their children the best start in life that they can: an education.

Ellie Bramley
28 July 2005

 

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