By Lincoln G. Peters
Ghanaian educator Osei-Anim says Liberia, like any other African Country’s educational system, is stuck in the mud and outdated.
During a one-day education 4.0 Dialogue Liberia Edition in Monrovia Thursday, 21 July 2022, the managing partner of Coral Reef Innovation Lab said this is due to Liberia’s failure to adjust its national curriculum to modern-day reality.
“What I have seen and noticed is that most countries in Africa’s education system, including Liberia’s education system, [are] still stuck in the 20th century,” he noted.
He suggested the need for Liberia to adjust its curriculum and embrace technology and entrepreneurship for the country’s growing population.
According to Mr. Osei-Anim, Liberia and most African countries including Ghana, have refused to make adjustments in their national curriculum.
He said this is why the continent is not creating thinkers and entrepreneurs that will drive the economy of African Countries.
Osei – Anim explained that the best thing is to digitize the content so that teachers can engage with technology.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]
“There is no place in Ghana that I have been where nobody wants this device or idea that I am sharing here today,” he said.
Osei – Anim argued that the world has changed and it’s time that Liberia and many African countries develop a well-organized school curriculum that will conform to current day’s reality.
He noted that people are no longer learning outside the country just academically, but with extracurricular activities to enable them to have skills in technology, innovation and entrepreneurship as paramount tools for transformation.
“I have traveled to almost every area in Africa and lived outside Africa before coming back to my country to settle,” Osei – Anim explained.
In Ghana, he said, after ten years or more before the curriculum is upgraded. And even before that time, Osei – Anim noted that it’s outdated globally.
“If Liberia and other African countries can embrace the Education 4.0 framework, this continent will have thinkers that will drive the economy of the countries in Africa,” he said.
According to Osei – Anim, in Ghana, every year close to a million graduates are in the job market, but they are without jobs.
He said this is because they are leaving school without knowledge of technology and entrepreneurial skills to open their own doors. He observed that this is the same with Liberia.
On Thursday, Coral Reef Innovation Lab, a Ghanaian educational program invented and introduced by Mr. Richard Anim, officially launched the ‘Education 4.0 framework’ Liberia Edition.
It aims at strengthening and developing the entrepreneurial and technological capacity and skills of Liberians and Africans at large to be on par with current academic curriculum.
The one-day educational 4.0 dialogue brought together several stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, universities and high schools. –Edited by Winston W. Parley
