The Aftershocks of Pandemic Restrictions: Report from Ghana: Part 3: The Teachers
New Site, Takoradi
Sunday 14 January 2024
It’s another hot and dry and dusty day here in Ghana’s largest port city. The population of this city and this country is exploding, with new construction going up in every direction you look. However, there doesn’t seem to be any concept of urban planning here, with new houses springing up here and there and everywhere, as if they had been dropped out of the sky from airplanes.
This morning I’ve arranged a meeting with Cecilia, her daughter Luisa, and their friend Gabriel, all elementary-level private school teachers. We met in the courtyard of Cecilia’s family home, in the shade of a papaya tree, as chickens squawked in the background and three scrawny-looking cats chased each other back and forth.
The three professionals inform me that schools in this country were closed for a full year. They tried teaching online, but quickly decided that was a waste of time. Instead, they would give their students assignments to complete and they would grade the finished assignments at home. They also had telecourses to supplement instruction.
And how did all this work out for them? All three agreed that not only had the students made no progress during the year school was closed, they had actually lost ground during that time. Nonetheless, all the students were automatically promoted to the next grade.
What about classroom discipline? All three emphatically stated that discipline had declined, as had student motivation to learn. “They expect us to open up their heads and put books inside,” Luisa stated.
And bear in mind these three are private school teachers. Their students are relatively more privileged than most in this country, with access to computers, internet, and television. Most public school students had none of these things, they tell me.
All three agreed that the incidence of child labor had soared during the pandemic, with regular news reports of soldiers or police being sent out to round up children who had been put to work hawking merchandise in the streets.
None of them had heard of any student or teacher who had died or suffered serious complications due to covid.
Since classes have resumed, terms have been lengthened from twelve to fourteen weeks in order to give students a chance to catch up. All three vowed the students would not be permanently damaged by the loss of learning opportunities. But the one thing you can never get back is time. What if the schools had never closed, AND the students had been offered the accelerated learning opportunities? How much better off would they be?
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