DATES WITH GEN.ASIEDU NKETIA ON TWITTER

INTRODUCTION

This piece will not follow the usual verbose nature of my pieces. My purpose is straight forward for verbosity. In this piece, I intend to share some of my submissions in an ongoing debate on Twitter on Ghana’s educational system.

I have had my own reservations about Ghana’s system of education and I thought that an opportunity to spew out some of my sentiments could not have been left to chance. It was a territory that I wanted to navigate and meander and I wish to thank the gallant young men who blazed the trail for the debate.

I am ordinarily not in the habit of sharing postings across social media platforms but the feedback, in terms of retweets, favorite and following, that greeted by postings in the said debate imposes a moral obligation for me to share with my blogger readers.

DATES WITH THE GENERAL

In debates like this, barely will a Politian delve into, for the risk that they run. But one General of Ghana’s politics will be intimated by the youth driven conversation on the microblogging platform. Hon Asiedu Nketia was out to follow the discussions as an active participant, a gesture that demonstrates his inalienable love for education.

While I commend him for his humility, I also want to take pride in the fact that some of my submissions were worthy enough to get the general retweeting.

Enough of all the grammar. Let me proceed by sharing some of my submissions in the debate.

v  ‘’Once you are educated, Society does not become indebted to you. Your education doesn’t make everyone an indented slave.#GhEduDebate’’

v  Education is a means to an end and not and End in itself.Until we understand this,we will continue to demonstrate for allawa...#GhEduDebate

v  Once you are educated, Society does not become indebted to you.Your education doesnt make everyone an indented slave.#GhEduDebate

v  If your educational system does not expose the ills of your society,solve your cracking challenges, it is not worth the stress #GhEduDebate

v  Ask a fresh English graduate to write a letter,and you will see the real picture of our educational system.#GhEduDebate

v  Self-discovery must be the pillar or the fulcrum of our educational system.We have no business discovering others.#GhEduDebate

v  Steve Jobs may still make it dropping out of school because genius defy longevity.#GhEduDebate.

v  It gladdens my heart that the young Ghanaian population is criticizing the system that has kept most of them out of jobs.#GhEduDebate.

v  Critical thinking is a skill, U must be learn and master. Spare education that duty. We have seen professors who don't have it.#GhEduDebate

v  Our educational system is failing because Teachers have stopped being Mentors.#GhEduDebate

v  When you discover yourself, you will recover your society and your world. That should be the purpose of our education.#GhEduDebate

v  Our Education empowers us to Reply and not to APPLY...That's there is a mismatch with industry requirement.#GhEduDebate

Conclusion

Above are some of my contributions on the said platform. I hope it helps stimulate the conversations and debates that will be critical enough to engender a paradigm shift in the prevailing academic system which continues to render most of us, the youth,jobless

Samuel Osarfo Boateng

www.Samuelcreasta.blogspot.com

samuelcreasta@gmail.com

233541842198/233270644157

WHY #DUMSORMUSTSTOP; the Paradox of the Human eye and the ‘Dumsor’

HYPOTHESIS:

‘‘When the national lights goes off in the night, the eyes refuses to shut until a natural light sets’’.

Disclaimer.

Though I do not have any background in science, I will not have any scientist test the veracity or otherwise of my hypothesis between the ‘Dumsor’ and the human eye, for two reasons.

First and foremost, because many of our scientists (engineers) have not brought their expertise to bear in tackling the perennial challenges of erratic power supply and other technological challenges that confronts us as nation, I am unable to trust their ability to fairly and objectively assist in helping me verify my untested statement.

Secondly, most of our engineers have subjected our poor historian President to cobwebs of deceptions as regards the real state of our energy situation. Indeed, the President had believed them until he begun to flinch at the public disenchantment with his fruitless deadlines.

I do not need, therefore, a scientific basis to test this. The commonality of the average man’s experiences is relied heavily upon to authenticate my hypothesis. In this piece I will not have time for the microscopes, telescopes, barometer and the likes that barely provide an antidote to critical social challenges.

I will bank on my own personal experiences and the testimonies of the ordeals of my colleagues to forge a correlation between the Dumsor and the human eye.

Background.

When News broke that some celebrities were at the fore front advocating for Dumsor to stop, little did I expect that it will get to the point that it has gotten. I would have reckoned that information as one of those stunts but for Lydia Forson’s characteristic satire.

The piece, to me, was the trail-blazer. Perhaps, the harrowing cacophony from some political apparatchiks had played a role in provoking some other celebrities to follow in the trajectory.

Who told you Twitter will be left out on this virtual revolution? The platform was inundated with tweets, retweets and replies, all in the repository of #DumsorMustStop.

Led by the apostles of social change in the persons of Sarkodie’s and Yvonne Nelson, the campaign has really lived up to its billing. Not even the elections in the United Kingdom could prevent the hashtag from trending.

As a Public Relations and Media practitioner, I couldn’t but monitor the sentiments that were being poured out in responses to the revolution that some of our celebrities have started, on the digital platform.

Of course, some downplayed and even questioned the rationale behind the campaign. For these group of persons, I am sure their motivation will be nothing but for the flippant opium of political affiliation. 

Be that it may, I must confess that I was almost drowned in amazement regarding the number of people  who took and continue to take turns to associate with the sentiments and ordeals  that were being poured into the barrel of #DumsorMust Stop.

My Experiences

I had a hectic day yesterday. A long meeting with a man I have grown to respect had taken a toll on my strength and vigor. I left home without light but I was upbeat about the prospects and privilege of having it. But the contrary was exactly the case.

Usually, I determined whether or not I will have light from Mateheko, far as it is from my residence in Dansoman Sahara.

When I got home around 7:00PM, the darkness that had accompanied me through my journey was equally present in my neighborhood.

Whatever, I needed to do before sleeping had to me done in darkness. I mean I had to eat, even in darkness.

Not even my Galaxy Tab could bear with me. It wasn’t patient enough to watch me sleep. In fact, it had already taken the lead resting after being bailed out by a dying battery.

Only God can bear me out. He is the best to determine exactly the time my eyes could shut. But, what I know is that my eyes was still active even when the landlord’s cock crows.

Sadly, yesterday’s incident has not been an exceptional case. The stress and discomforts that emanate from excessive heat continue to leave me with sleepless night all day long. I repeat for the purposes of emphasize that when the national light goes off, my eyes remains shut until natural light sets.

As I type this piece only God knows the pains I have to endure to make this happen. My boss in its quest to meet his target in the face of a major economic challenges coupled with Dumsor, would equally not accept any excuse for my absence.

I am therefore compelled to accumulate the stress, pain and the discomfort without whining, suicidal as it is.

Generally

I know my story is not any different from the tales of many young Ghanaian population whose schedule cannot afford them other options than the stress and the discomfort they always need to endure to make it to work.

May be, our ordeals and lamentations are not comparable to the financial emotional, social and psychological stress the barber, carpenter, mason, even to the thousands  of our labor force who had to laid off to atone for a condition they never contributed in creating.

Recommendations

In many of my pieces, I have always ended with recommendation. But on this occasion, I have no recommendation to add as many solutions have been proffered from all quarters. My only recommendation is for all to join in the #DumsorMustStop campaign,even the President will be at the vigil.

At this point, I want to congratulate the celebrities for their courage, resilience consistence. Their defiance of the Ghanaian culture of silence is highly lauded..

Sarkodie, Yvonne Nelson, Lydia Forson, Chase, Akwaboah,Kwabena Kwabena and many but for space, the average Ghanaian will remain grateful to you for identifying with them.

Blessings

Samuel Osarfo Boateng

Blogger/Researcher/Communications Strategist

samuelcreasta@gmail.com

ADOPT AND SUPPORT-THIS IS FOR WHOEVER WANT THE STATUS QUO TO BE CHALLENGED

INTRO

‘Dates with my Eyes’ is a 16 chaptered succinct and thought-provoking essays that have been compiled into a book.

It reflects all that I have seen and that which pricks and pit my conscience against my society.

The book puts the spotlight on the deficiencies and inconsistencies  in our political and media practice ; our almost indifferent attitudes towards issues of national concern; issues that affects new recruits; among the host of other pressing issues that my eyes have so far exposed me to.

As thought-provoking that this piece is, it is my expectation that a lot of my contemporaries can purchase one without straining their paltry incomes.

It is in this vein that I request for support through this mechanism in order to be subsidize the cost per unit for my targets.

MECHANICS

Through a random sampling technique, sponsors will choose one of the 15 chapters. Because the choice of the chapter is done at random, an adopted chapter will not be interpreted to mean an endorsement or otherwise of the content therein. This disclaimer or caveat will communicated clearly in the book.

WHO CAN BE AN ADOPTER?

·         An adopter may be an individual, group of individuals, or a company.

WHAT ARE THEIR BENEFITS

·         An individual adopter will be duly acknowledged at the end of the book. Their picture will be captioned with the chapter they adopt. An amount not less than GHC800.00, will be paid by adopters in this category.

·         For a company, their company logo or signage will be captioned beneath the pages of the adopted chapters. An amount not less than GHC1, 500. 00 or above, will be paid for by the adopters in these category.

·         At the Launch of the book, adopters will be acknowledged. In the case of a company, their signage will also be displayed.

Contact: Samuel: 0270644157/0541842198/samuelcreasta@gmail.com….if you wish to adopt and support.