Academic literature on the topic 'Education – Ghana'

Bildung ist ein Instrument, das zur Bekämpfung von Armut, Ungleichheit und sozialer Ausgrenzung in jeder Gesellschaft eingesetzt werden kann. Für eine nachhaltige und ganzheitliche nationale Entwicklung ist daher eine gerechte Verteilung der Bildungsressourcen unter den Menschen erforderlich. Dies ist jedoch nicht immer ohne Weiteres zu erreichen, insbesondere in Afrika, wo der Kolonialismus in vielen Ländern teilweise zu einer ungleichen Entwicklung unter den Menschen geführt hat. Schon bald nach der Eingliederung der Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (heute Ghana) in die Kolonialherrschaft vernachlässigte die Bildungspolitik der Kolonialisten den nördlichen Teil des Landes. Obwohl es einige Studien zum Kolonialismus in Afrika im Allgemeinen gibt, wurde nur wenig darüber berichtet, welche Rolle er bei der Schaffung eines ungleichen Bildungswesens spielte. Auch die Auswirkungen von aktiven Förderungsmaßnahmen, die zur Überbrückung der Kluft zwischen dem Nord-Süd-Gefälle in Ghana eingeführt wurden. Die wichtigsten Fragen, die diese Studie daher zu beantworten versucht, sind die Folgenden: Was waren die kolonialen Begegnungen mit dem Norden Ghanas, die die Unterentwicklung des Bildungswesens in der Region bewirkten? Wie überbrücken die aktiven Förderungsmaßnahmen bzw. die positive Diskriminierung die Kluft zwischen dem Norden und dem Süden des Landes? Zur Beantwortung der Forschungsfragen wurde in der Studie ein methodengemischter Ansatz verwendet, bei dem Tiefeninterviews, Q-Methoden, Dokumentenanalyse und Beobachtung als Datenerhebungsmethoden Einsatz fanden. Es stellte sich heraus, dass die Kolonialisten eine bewusste Strategie verfolgten, den Norden zu einer Reserve ungelernter Arbeitskräfte zu machen, was erklärt, warum sie dort anfangs nur wenige Schulen bauten. Die Ergebnisse der Studie zeigen darüber hinaus, dass die positive Diskriminierung die Nord-Süd-Lücke nicht wie erwartet schließt. So kommt man zu dem Schluss, dass die Ausbeutung weitesgehend für die Unterentwicklung des Bildungswesens in Nordghana verantwortlich ist.<br>Education is a tool that can be used to fight poverty, inequality, and social exclusion in every given society. Thus, for a sustainable and holistic national development, there is the need for an equitable distribution of educational resources among the people. This is however hardly achievable, especially in Africa where colonialism has partly brought about unequal development among the people in many countries. Soon after the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (now Ghana) was incorporated under colonial rule, the educational policy of the colonialists did not favour the northern part of the country. Even though, there have been some studies on the colonialism of Africa in general, little has been done regarding the role it played in (re)producing unequal development of education in Africa. Likewise, the impact of an affirmative action instituted to bridge the gap between the north-south divide in Ghana has not been evaluated. The main questions this study thus seek to answer are: What were the colonial encounters with the north that brought about the underdevelopment of education in the area? How is the affirmative action bridging the gap between the north and the south? To answer the research questions, the study used a mixed-methods approach where in-depth interviews, Q methods, document analysis and observation were adapted as data collection methods. It was revealed that the colonialists adopted a deliberate strategy of making the north an unskilled labour reserve, thus accounting for why they did not build many schools there in the beginning. The findings of the study also show that the effect of the affirmative action has not been able to appreciably contribute to closing the north-south gap as expected. It is concluded that exploitation largely accounted for the underdevelopment of education in northern Ghana.

This thesis examines some of the issues surrounding extensive gender inequalities operating within the school, family and the wider society which affect girls’ rights to education. It reveals that institutional culture within the home, community and school reinforces gender inequality and continue to limit girls’ access to school and in performing equally to boys, especially in science and mathematics subjects. It is based on interviews, focus group discussions, observations and life history interviews I conducted with students (girls and boys between the ages of 15 and 22), school dropouts, teachers, parents and education officials in a secondary school in Ghana. Following a brief review of the literature on the construction of gender in general and femininity in particular, as well as literature on gender and education, focusing mainly on factors and causes of girls’ unequal access to, and performance in schooling in Ghana and Africa in general, I analyse the differential experiences of schoolgirls and how these gendered experiences impact on their performance, achievements, choice of subject and future aspirations from a gendered perspective, using the social construction of gender as a theoretical framework. It explores the ways in which teachers’ and parents’ attitudes discriminate against girls on gender lines and help to perpetuate particular perceptions and expectations about the appropriate education of boys and girls. This thesis also examines the factors and situations which contribute to the incidence of high dropout rates among girls in the study area with an emphasis on household factors such as poverty, pregnancy and gendered cultural practices. It analyzes how leaving school without adequate skills and qualifications impacts negatively on the career prospects of school dropouts, especially girls. It evaluates the successes and challenges of Girls’ Education Unit (GEU) and government policies at improving girls’ educational attainment and opportunities with emphasis on how educational officials perceive government policies in achieving gender equality in the study area and suggests gender sensitive strategies and policies that would help bridge the gender gap as well as provide guidance for educational policy makers in the Ghanaian education system.

This thesis examines how family background, measured as parents education, and household access to amenities affects children’s school enrolment, and how parents education affects earnings. I also examine how education and family background affects performance of unregistered urban businesses. In the first empirical study, rural educated parents’ effects on biological children’s enrolment were stronger, with educated fathers’ effects positive for boys and girls. Educated mothers helped boys, perhaps indicating more “traditional” values among women. Urban educated parents’ effects were weaker, which is plausible, given the weaker influence of “traditional” values. For non-biological urban children, educated mothers effect were adverse, suggesting that children fulfil a servant-type role to facilitate the educated mother’s market work. Poor access to amenities reduces enrolment. In the second empirical study, while family background was important for education, there were also direct effects of family background on earnings given education for urban individuals, implying that “connections” and nepotism may be important. The final study shows that education is important for performance of unregistered businesses without workers. Among firms with workers, education is insignificant, a result admittedly difficult to explain. Parental business ownership assists performance, an implication that parental business owners can effectively train children to business ownership.