The Mfantsipim Old Boys Association (MOBA), has held its 6th annual engagement series at the Accra City Hall.
The purpose was to raise and discuss topics of national importance in education to inform national policies for quality education to be achieved.
This year’s meeting took a hybrid form as it was both physical and virtual due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The engagement series, witnessed by most of its alumni, was on the theme: ‘Rethinking Education: Meeting the Challenges of the New Normal’.
With Dr. Joseph A. Boateng (MOBA 1971), Sam Dontoh (MOBA 1981), Nahum Awotwe Ackon (MOBA 1991), and Kofi Kodua-Sarpong (MOBA 2001) as panellists leading the discussion, and Roland Akosah (MOBA 1976) being the moderator, the engagement series focused on three areas namely, ‘The Way Forward, Finance, Change Management, and Infrastructure.’
On infrastructure, Nahum Awotwe Ackon from the 1991-year group, called for a different policy direction in the educational sector, constant training of educators to use digital platforms, and making data packages affordable across the country.
“There must be reliable internet across regions and schools in particular. This makes information readily available to all within the education space. Data packages must be affordable, there is a need to train our educators from the very onset to stay abreast with current trends of online education across various digital platforms and serve as a leveler for those living in rural areas.”
Dr. Joseph Boateng, who touched on ‘the way forward’ said the current educational system does not meet the current demand worldwide thus there is a need to have a different educational perspective, in order to use the acquired knowledge to solve socio-economic development problems.
According to him, there is a need to “make changes to the curricula and make bold policy changes that will produce the graduates needed to solve the problems of the new normal”.
Also, Kofi Kodua Sarpong proposed a different approach in funding education to prevent exerting too much pressure on the government purse.
“What if we run schools and categorize them into three areas? The first is schools with the ability to attract fee-paying students, the second is schools with the ability to support a hybrid system where government caters for certain expenditures, and the third is schools that do not have the ability to do any of the above.”
“This way, government funding may be optimized and targeted at schools needing it the most. What if we funded aspects of public education using private-public partnerships? This already happens at the higher education level, so why not at the secondary school level” he asked.
Sam Dontoh also called for a proper structure of the country’s educational system and a blueprint that engages key stakeholders to achieve the desired change.
The series also saw a keynote address delivered by MOBA’s Ebusuapanyin, Capt. Paul Forjoe of the ‘73-year group, who urged all old boys to be proactive and contribute to helping the group achieve its vision.