PROFESSOR OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, UNESCO INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION (IEPA), UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST, AT THE GRAND DURBAR CLIMAXING THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION OF CREATOR SCHOOLS, TEMA ON 27TH JANUARY, 2024.
The Chairman, Rev, Brig. Gen. Dr Nii Obodai (RTD), All other Protocols observed.
I thank the Managing Director of Creator Schools, Rev (Mrs) Evelyn Markins, and members of the Anniversary Planning Committee for granting me the privilege of delivering a keynote address predicated on the anniversary theme: ’40 years of sustained quality education through hard work and perseverance”. Life, they say, begins at 40 but the experiences one encounters through the journey towards the 40 years milestone have never been easy. The journey is full of thorns characterized by socio-economic challenges, competitor disruptive exploits, internal factional undermining ploys, and many other hope-dumping experiences. Managing these thorns requires perseverance, focus, resilience, transformative orientation, self-discipline, and visionary leadership motivated by love and commitment. Indeed, it is not surprising that 40th Anniversary is globally christened as Ruby Jubilee symbolized by love, commitment, protection, prosperity, and courage. For Creator Schools, a private entreprise, to survive 40 years of socio-economic and competitive challenges and still remain very glued to issues of quality teaching and learning, I can only fathom that Creator Schools was built on a solid foundation with a sustained transformative vision. I have been associated with Creator Schools for the past 15 years and each time I visit the campus, I see significant improvement in the climate and infrastructural settings of the School. I therefore congratulate the Schools’ Governing Board, the Managing Director, the Headmaster, Staff, and students for sustaining the dream that the Founder, Rev. Comfort Adjarko had for the school 40 years ago. Happy Anniversary.
Rev Brigadier Chairman, I note from the website of Creator Schools that, the vision of the Founder 40 years ago was skewed towards “making a school that turns out academically excellent and morally upright graduands who are able to compete anywhere in the world”. Indeed, the future of any society rests largely on the values that are inculcated in its young people in their formative years. When children are taught to cherish the ideals of good moral training, they become responsible and well-mannered adults who have the strength of character to survive in challenging contexts without compromising what is right. Indeed, as one renowned author Lewis once articulated, “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a clever devil.” Indeed, quality education develops the heart, the mind, and the hand of the individual for the benefit of himself/herself and for the larger society. Undeniably, sound moral training based on values sets the foundation for academic excellence because pupils learn to discipline themselves, develop self-confidence, and avoid distractions and other unhealthy habits that can derail their focus from studies. Today, Creator Schools, as I deduced from the Headmaster’s speech, has become a first-class model basic school of excellence with several alumni spread across the national and international space. This is a feat worth celebrating. Ayekoooo.
Rev. Chair, Ladies and Gentlemen, while I commend Creator Schools for the feats achieved over the past 40 years, permit me to provoke your thoughts on one question: ‘In the next forty years (2024-2064), will Creator Schools be still seen as a school that upholds quality education that balances the development of the head (intellect), heart (Character) and the hand (skills)? This question is critical. In view of the increasing complex challenges facing pre-tertiary education in our country. For example, there is a worrying development in some schools where the desire to prepare children for exams is denying children holistic personality development. This has compromised ethics and morality in some schools to the extent that nobody finds anything wrong with institutional support for examination malpractices. So we have situations where graduates from some schools get to tertiary institutions with very good grades but find it difficult to cope with academic work at that level. What can Creator School do differently? How will Creator Schools cope with this quality-threatening trend? Will Creator School compromise the total personality development vision of the founder as the school journeys through the next forty years? I hope not. For example, It is important that as a Creator School teacher, you maximize your learning-focused engagement with your students, support them to develop 21st-century skills in problem-solving, critical thinking, innovation, and communication through integration of ICT, and facilitate the development of self-confidence in them.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and gentlemen, there is also the challenge of diminishing national character orientation among young people who go through our school system. When we look critically at the lyrics of our national anthem and patriotic songs, we note that communal spirit and nationalism are key indicators of our National Character as Ghanaians. But we currently find ourselves in an environment where sectional interests largely pivoted around partisan commitment is fast killing our national identity and values. For example, people ignore the national anthem when it is played, the spirit of patriotism is gradually evading us and we commit ourselves more to partisan and other sectional interests than national interests. The value of one destiny which binds us together as Ghanaians and the spirit of mutual support are fast diminishing through selfishness, divisive tendencies, corrupt practices, indiscipline and others making systems dysfunctional. The Founder of Creator Schools attached importance to character development because the character in every human endeavour is the pivot around which all other ingredients for the development of human society evolve. Indeed, as the 2011 Jakarta Declaration in Indonesia articulates, ‘If wealth is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost but if character is lost, everything is lost’. To stem this trend, our educational system, particularly at the foundational learning phase, has a critical role to play. In the next 40 years, will graduates of Creator Schools stand out as citizens who did not only excel academically but also distinguished themselves as patriotic citizens?
Lastly, I wish to encourage the Management of Creator Schools to thrive in the midst of the complex challenges facing schools in the country to maintain its uniqueness in providing quality education that balances the development of the head, the heart, and the hand for young people. Never depart from your blend of academic and character development because the outcome of the blend is what our country needs now. It is also highly commendable that you do not only focus on increasing access to your schools but more importantly prioritize quality education for all. I strongly believe that it is only when access expansion is indexed to quality in the provision and delivery of education that education becomes the key to a nation’s development. I must of course concede that isolating basic education for quality without ensuring quality at the SHS level undermines the benefits associated with secondary education. It is for this reason that I find it strange that calls on the MOE to review the current mode of implementing the FSHS to ensure quality and equity-indexed education has become a political issue with review being unfathomably interpreted as cancellation. Anyway, Creator Schools should sustain its quality-oriented education. In sustaining the quality education through the next 40 years, I encourage management to invest more in digital-supported learning to effectively respond to the modern way of teaching and learning.
In conclusion, I urge students, teachers, the headmaster, the Managing Director, the Board of Directors, parents, and all other stakeholders to always reflect on the fundamental purpose for which Creator Schools was established as we journey through the next 40 years. I once again congratulate you on your Ruby Jubilee Celebration. Remember to demonstrate the virtues of love, compassion, and protection in your pursuit of quality education.
Thank you.