How To Reclaim a Dream Deferred

Of course the title of this article borrows without shame from the famous poem by the great African-American poet, Langston Hughes. The poem is titled “Harlem” although it is known to most people by its opening line: What happens to a dream deferred? Here is the poem in full:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up

like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore—

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over—

like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags

like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

 

In this short poem Langston Hughes asked a question about the dreams of Harlem, the famous Black neighbourhood in New York City borough of Manhattan often regarded as the African-American capital of the USA. In the 1920 and 30s there was a cultural and artistic reawakening of the Black people in American which had its epicenter in Harlem. It was known as the Harlem Renaissance. By the end of the Second World War, the promise of the Harlem Renaissance was beginning to wane, which led Langston Hughes to ask his famous question, “What happens to a dream differed?”

Secondary Education Improvement Project

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

1. Why did the World Bank agree to lend money to Ghana for secondary education at this time of tight budget control? Ghanas Constitution mandates that all efforts are made to make education gradually universal and progressively free. With access to primary education becoming near universal in Ghana, new priorities are emerging at post-basic level where the demand for secondary education is fast increasing and the supply of SHS has not kept pace.  Ghanas middle income status will also require more secondary level graduates with the relevant skills to continue their education and/or enter the labor market, hence investing in secondary education at this time will improve the human capital of the country, and also improve long-term competitiveness, access jobs and improve peoples lives and incomes. Borrowing for these objectives is a smart investment as the terms of borrowing from IDA is also concessional compared to the commercial financial market rates.
2. Why only senior secondary schools and not technical or basic schools?  The purpose of the project does not preclude investing in technically oriented SHS programs and where selected SHSs offer technical and vocational programs, these will be supported.  Most of the external funding for the last 15 years has been going to basic and technical education. The SHS is considered as an underfunded level and a bottleneck in the education system with significant challenges in terms of equity, access and quality. The Banks support is not mutually exclusive of other subsectors.  In fact, the support to secondary education complements current ongoing support for increasing the quality of basic education (GPEG-US$75.5 million), improving skills training and science and technology adoption (GSTDP-US$70 million), improving higher education relevance and centers of excellence (Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project and the African Centers of Excellence Project).  The basic education sector is also well supported by several development partners whose efforts are coordinated by the education sector.  These include DFID supporting girls scholarships at primary and JHS level, USAID supporting reading and learning assessments at basic level, UNICEF supporting basic education for out of school children, JICA supporting science and math education and WFP.  The African Development Bank, Germany (KfW and GIZ) and DANIDA also provide significant support for TVET and skills development.  The Bank works closely with all of these partners to ensure collaboration and coordination in its support for education in Ghana.
3. What are the components of the project?  The US$156 million project is intended to be implemented over a five year period, 2014-2019. It will use a results-based financing approach, which means that funds are only released based on pre-identified achievement of specific results expected to help Ghana see improved educational outcomes in an equitable manner. The results based approach, as a tool, focuses on results or outcomes rather than inputs.  The Objective of the project is to increase access to senior secondary education in underserved districts and improve quality in low-performing senior high schools in Ghana.

The Other Side Of Free-SHS Education Equation That You Don’t Want To See.

Kwaku Adu-Gyamfi, Asoum, Ghana

Universal SHS tuition-free education is nice but Universal access to a quality education is much better because the problems of education are not confined to tuition affordability.

FAR BE It from me to get in the middle of the Ghanaian “politiricking” (a combination of the words,”politics” and trick”) debate. But, I’d like to add my two pesewas to the tuition free-SHS education  debate because I don’t think the  proponents of it are  just pandering  to  education enthusiastic  parents…I hope not!.

The tuition – free -SHS -education is very feasible and enticing proposition, but we need to dissect it a little to see the quality of its contents, long- term financial sustainability, and effectiveness in solving some of our emerging educational and socio-economic problems in Ghana.

UNESCO report calls for quality education and equal access to technical training

ACCRA, 12 November 2012The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO, says the millennium pledge made by international leaders that all children would have a primary education by 2015 is going to be missed by a large margin. This is as a result of lack of funds and a general lack of interest in education.

These findings are contained in the 2012 Education for All (EFA) UNESCO Global Monitoring Report (GMR), an annual publication that measures progress towards EFA goals.

The Report reveals that in Ghana, quality primary education and availability of entrepreneur skills are fundamental to achieving the goal of putting education to work, and Ghana, like many countries, need to plan for skills development and make it accessible to most disadvantaged people. Devising means of linking the curriculum to local realities and including extracurricular practical exercises in the learning environment is vital to improving critical thinking and building a good understanding of the potential that the communities where pupils live in can offer says Mr. Dos Santos, Acting Director, UNESCO Cluster office in Accra.

IMF Technical Assistance Finds A Teachable Moment in Africa

Source: IMF Survey online

Stephen George is a public high school principal worried about the usual things: how students will fare on upcoming exams, crowded classrooms, and how to make sure his teachers get paid on time.

George has his work cut out for him. Matilda Newport High School in Monrovia, Liberia on the west coast of Africa has all the usual stresses that keep high school principals around the world awake at night, and then some.

The civil war wreaked havoc on daily life for the almost four million people in the small West African country. Roads and buildings were destroyed, people were displaced from their homes, and schools shut their doors.