I don’t think the educational system in Ghana has been designed in such a way to develop the personalities of individuals. Most of the time, the focus is on how best the student can store up information in their head and repeat that same information on examination day. This should not be the case. Sometimes also, the teachers do not help the children that much. Even worse, some teachers insult students and make them feel like dirt. At very young stages, children feel that they are failures and nothing good can come out of them simply because the educational system does not exploit all the aspects of an individual’s life in order to identify their strength and weakness. Some children may be good in sports and some in music and some in painting etc. but there is so little room for the children to discover what they are good at doing in Ghana.

This is very dangerous because once the child does not excel in the classroom; there is hardly any opportunity for them to excel in life. I was watching CNN last week and there was this young Asian boy who is good at playing the piano. He has started performing at major events and is already known worldwide. The Venus sisters also started playing tennis at a very young age. Remember Michael Jackson? All these people have excelled today because at a very young age they realized their talents and were in the right environment which helped them develop their talents.

That is what is missing in Ghana. We are trapped in our own minds and are failing to realize the great opportunities that are right in front of us. Students lack analytical skills and fail to think creatively and objectively. They fail to depend on their own mental capacity and never develop themselves because the system does not expose them to do that. We have to start exposing the children to a better system where they will be forced to think outside of the box in solving problems and building confidence in themselves. Rather than just storing up information in their head and giving it back to the teacher, the students should learn to analyze information and give recommendations. The system should also make room fro extra curriculum activities.