Ensuring education parity: Tears of boy-child
Formal education in Ghana has its roots in the castle schools of the Gold Coast.
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It took a different turn after independence.
However, in the early post-independence period, the general trend in student-gender categorisation in Ghana was heavily in favour of the males.
This was attributed to inimical cultural practices and mentality that kept the girl-child at home but allowed the boy-child to proceed with schooling.
Happily, through the influence of international conventions such as “Education for All” and advocacy driven by global happenings, the Government of Ghana was compelled to introduce education policies that would support the girl-child and create equal academic opportunities.
Bridging the gap
Accordingly, in the early 1980s, interventions were introduced to bridge the gap between males and females among school age youth of the time.
Furthermore, to address the wide gender disparity which existed in the general student population in the country, a programme dubbed: “Send Your Girl-Child To School” was pursued.
Today, the initiators of those policy interventions can pat themselves on the back for the sterling results achieved.
Indeed, in this modern era when schooling has been made compulsory at the basic level and free to the secondary level, only few are those who would intentionally prevent the girl-child from going to school and progressing professionally.
As a sequel to the intense advocacy work, the contemporary girl-child seems to be attracting far more educational attention than the boy-child.
Now, it appears fashionable to establish STEM institutions for Girls, Mathematics Workshops for Girls, Robotic and Computer Training for Girls, and the like, without any parallel for the boy-child.
Deliberately, special scholarships and concessions are given to the females in the name of affirmative action, which the boy-child never gets to enjoy.
Also, expansion of facilities is undertaken for the girls in many institutions with no similar projects for the boys.
Residential halls, which used to be for males only in some educational institutions, are now turned unisex to create more space for the girl-child.
Consequently, in many mixed schools, the population of the girls is significantly higher than the boys.
The reality
Academically, the records suggest that the girls are leading the boys.
For example, statistics from the West African Examinations Council, Ghana show that between the period 2006 – 2022, the winners of the first three positions in the Distinction Awards of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) are 46 in all.
Out of this number, 26 are girls which works to about 57 per cent, and 20 are boys, which makes 43 per cent.
As such, it will be misleading to assert that the girls are still behind the boys.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to alert the authorities, who matter, that it is about time we gave active attention to the boy-child as we do to the girl-child.
We must not be negligent and wait for our society to reach the point where we will reverse the song and say: SEND YOUR BOY-CHILD TO SCHOOL.
In fact, the current sentiments make it appear as though the modern boy-child is being made to suffer chastisement for the iniquities of the forefathers for not sending the girl-child to school.
Surely, the need for equality and parity is urgent.
So, one STEM institution for girls, should be equalled by another for the boys.
Let there be a balance!
Time bomb
Some of us are of the opinion that the current over concentration on the girl-child and ignoring the boy-child is setting a time bomb.
This is because the girls would come out as teachers, medical officers, engineers, lawyers, managing directors, and the like, while the boys become hand truck pushers, hewers of wood and drawers of water, with high propensity for drug addiction, alcoholism, and heinous crimes.
Additionally, the likelihood would be strong for a wide disparity in the problem-solving abilities, acceptable behavioural patterns, and dignifying social status of the grown girl-child as against the grown boy-child in marriage.
This may lead to marital relationship crises that can end up in family degeneration to the detriment of future generations and the nation as a whole.
The boy-child is weeping.
Who will hear his silent cries and come to his aid?
The writer is a lecturer at the Methodist University Ghana and a former Head of National Office of WAEC
email: [email protected]
