Another youth development approach in Ghana is the provision of formal education to our young people. Education is also crucially important to eradicate poverty, to provide the manpower needs of the country and for socio-economic advancement. The structured and formal education system also prepares our youth with the skills they need for employment and independence.
Nevertheless, Education as a youth development strategy is premised on the assumption that, as long as the school is able to direct the youth and be a magnet for their attention, the youth is presumable able to move into adulthood with minimal antisocial activities. However, evidence on the ground is contrary to this assumption. According to World Bank Report in 2000 cited by Rev. Charles Gyan-Duah, 200,000 students graduate from the Junior Secondary School every year in Ghana with only 30% gaining admission to Senior Secondary School. Again the report suggest that, of 72,000 students that graduate from Senior Secondary School each year, only 25% find space in post-secondary institution (Chronicle, Thursday April 10, 2003, Vol. 3 # 45).
What happens to the young people who are unable to find employment or continue their education? Our system has no programs in place to address the needs of vast majority of our young people. With no youth programs in place to encourage, motivate, direct and channel the energies of our young people into productive and healthy activities, the devil finds work for their idle hand as they engage in deviant activities such as violence and unhealthy lifestyle such as alcoholism, drugs etc.
Another important inadequacy of school system as a youth development strategy is that, education system in Ghana is a middle class institution. For example, the language of instruction in our schools is English. Unfortunately in Ghana, one’s ability to speak fluent English is equated with intelligence and sophistication. As a result, children from illiterate families with limited exposure to English language who may struggle in class because of the language barrier may find their experience misinterpreted by an inexperienced middle class teacher as an academic incompetence and punished.
Since academic competence and performance determine the commitment and attachment to school, a child that is stigmatized as incompetent by peers and teachers and often punished by ignorant teachers will ultimately loose interest in school and drop out of school.
With no infrastructure and programs in place to address the experiences and needs of our young people who drop out of school, they end up frustrated, hopeless, angry, disgruntled and eager to get even with our society for letting them down.
Similarly, education as a youth development strategy in Ghana is based on the assumption that, a young person simultaneously completes his/her education, finds employment and becomes a productive citizen. However, given the harsh economic condition in the country, majority of our young people complete their education without employment. With the young person no longer tied to school, the young person become in one-sense adult; yet, being unemployment and depending on family and friends for livelihood, the young person remains in another sense child. The ability to enjoy adult privileges without being responsible for rent, clothes, food etc generate incredible freedoms for the young person caught in this situation. Lack of experience, guidance, mentors and caring families makes it easier for many young people in this situation to participate in antisocial behaviors.
From the foregone analysis, it is obvious that what is needed now is an explicit framework for improving the quality of life of our young people through institutional rearrangement to contribute to, rather than diminish the opportunities our young people need to succeed in life. Again, we have to recognize that solid intellectual development and skills acquisition must be coordinated with attainment of emotional, ethical, physical civic and social competencies to enable our youth build their internal resources and skills they need to cope with pressures that might lead them into antisocial behaviors.
Thus, Youth Programs such as national service programs, intercultural exchanges, community development projects, peer counseling, mentorship, employment programs, volunteering, internships, youth leadership activities, vocational training etc will equip our young people with the requisite skills they need to function in our brutal economy. Again, when young people are supported by society, and are provided with the social, economic, cultural, educational tools they need to succeed, they would have a sense of community membership rather than the feeling of alienations.
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