Throughout the world, formal education is seen as the most effective way to train humanity for best character formation, to discover the basis of knowledge, for nation building, for judicious use of resources (human and natural resource) and others. In fact, this is to augment the informal education we receive from our parents, religious or cultural settings, workplace and mass media.
In this article, my emphasis is on formal educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities) and how their mottos influence the lives of students who pass through these institutions. In fact, every educational institution has a motto which serves as a catchphrase for the students while in school and continue to form part and parcel of their lives when they complete school and find themselves in positions of responsibility.
The founders of every school, college and university established these institutions on specific mottos. The importance of these mottos are to inculcate in their products specific values that are necessary for human and national development.
Since I cannot take mottos of all the schools, colleges and universities in Ghana to analyse, I would only take a critical look at the mottos of the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and Achimota School.
To start with, the University of Ghana has its motto as [Integri Procedamus] which means “let us proceed in integrity.” Integrity in this sense implies honesty, uprightness, probity, honour; good character, morality, righteousness, virtue, decency, sincerity, truthfulness and what have you. The expectation is that all the products of the University of Ghana and their workers will put up these values for the development of the university in particular and mother Ghana as a whole.
The University of Cape Coast also has its motto which serves as a watchword for the workers and students in general. The motto is: “Truth, Our Guide”. This means that the university, students, workers and the nation at large can develop through nothing else but only the truth. This further means that the truth remains the watchword to hold on to even in trying moments; and if the products of the University of Cape Coast incorporate the value of truth, then they would become good citizens and help build a better Ghana.
Achimota School has produced important personalities for Ghana and beyond since its inception in 1927. Its motto is Ut Omnes Unum Sint which means that “All may be one.” I have a reason to believe that the founders of this great institution intentionally chose this motto to sensitise students to the essence of peaceful cohabitation of people from diverse backgrounds (political, ethnic, cultural and religious). In other words, they should not allow ethnicity, culture, religion, politics, and to a larger extent, colonial boundaries and imperial tactics to divide them, but rather learn to support one another in order to build a strong and healthy nation.
Looking at the mottos of these great institutions, the hard question is: Do these words reflect in the lives of their products? This is critical because every leader or official went through the formal education system right from the basic level up to tertiary level.
At each stage of education, there is a motto which is purported to instil in the students some sense of discipline, good behaviour, hard work and integrity so that at the end of their education they become useful to themselves, family and the nation at large.
However, nowadays there are numerous newspaper reports and others from the grapevine of alleged acts of corruption by elected and non-elected leaders or officials. Further to this, the Auditor General’s Reports every year indicate financial malpractices in state institutions.
If these allegations are all true, then what is the significance of these mottos? Or is it that because most of the mottos are written in Latin, students find it difficult to comprehend and assimilate? Maybe it is time for past and present students to ponder on their mottos and see if it is reflected in their lives.
Writer’s address: P. O. Box LG 862,
CGENSA,
University of Ghana
Legon.
