She said, for instance, that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed cracks in education which were well-known by policymakers.

That, she said, included low reading and comprehension, lack of adequate textbooks, inappropriate learning environments, inadequate time spent on tasks by learners and facilitators, as well as inadequate teaching and learning materials which the National Democratic Congress government worked on in closing the gaps.

Rising to Africa

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang asserted in a lecture on ‘Rising to Africa’s education challenges and opportunities post COVID-19 pandemic’ at the African Development Conference of the African Caucus of Harvard African Law Association of Harvard Law School in the US.

The overall theme for the 2-day conference was ‘Reimagining Africa’s Growth on our Terms’.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang said the COVID-19 pandemic created the opportunity to consider more seriously how to integrate the types of education most African countries operated -traditional, non-formal- into what had come to be labelled formal to raise the possibility of self-learning which was sorely needed at the time.

She was of the view that although a pandemic was hardly predictable and affected all aspects of life, including education, a country’s preparedness for the unknown depended, to a large extent, on how the known pitfalls were taken seriously and attended to.

The first female Vice -Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast reiterated the need for isolated experimental learning, a gender-responsive approach and a review of the medium of instruction as some critical areas of engagement to address existing gaps to build a ‘more robust system that confronts existing crisis and allows us to confront unknown ones.

Partnership, she maintained, must be encouraged within private schools, within public schools and between public and private schools for knowledge, experience, facility and skills sharing as well as student collaboration.

The former Education Minister said education was a shared responsibility among government, communities, practitioners, parents and learners themselves and demanded a clear definition and support of each key stakeholder for proper accountability and effective engagement, especially in times of crisis.

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was accompanied by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

She took the opportunity of the conference to hold meetings and interact with different Ghanaian and African student groupings at Harvard and in the US.