educationist, on Monday advocated a Marshall Plan of action for
Northern Ghana to seek reparation from Britain to execute such a plan
to correct the development lapses that widened the gap between the
North and the South.
He said Britain deliberately accounted for the poor educational
system and the lopsided development in the area, which had brought
untold hardships to the people.
He has therefore called on the country's leaders and influential
Northerners to draw a Marshal Plan that would focus purely on
development in all areas of the northern setup and present it to the
colonial master for assistance to bridge the gap between the North and
the South.
Alhaji Ibrahima made the appeal at a symposium at the ongoing
Northern Easter School in Tamale on the topic: "Education in Northern
Ghana, 50 years after independence."
He said "Though the call is belated, it is necessary for us to
tell our Colonial Master in plain language that he did not treat the
North and its people fairly, for that matter he should do something to
compensate us."
Alhaji Ibrahima, who is a deputy Director of education in-charge
of planning at the Tamale education office, said what the north needed
now was establishment of industries and measures to improve its
agriculture sector so that its citizens would be economically sound to
cater for their children's education.
He advised people from the area to pay special attention to
Kindergarten education to nurture the children well into higher levels
of education to improve the living conditions of the Northern
people.Alhaji Ibrahima who was a Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive
(MCE) under the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
said successive governments after independence paid lip-service in
transforming the situation in the north.
He said though there were reforms to address the educational gaps
in the country, the national cake was not evenly distributed and
called on leaders to have the political commitment to develop the
North.
Dr Yakubu Seidu Peligah, Principal of the Tamale Polytechnic said
some educational priorities in the North were misplaced since some of
the courses being run in the schools had no places for industrial
attachment.
He said the focus of education must always tally with the
peculiar needs of the society and that courses ran in most of the
tertiary institutions in the north had no bearing with the region's
development.
He called on the government to set up factories and industries to
absorb products from Polytechnics in the three northern regions and
those from the University for Development Studies (UDS).Other
contributors blamed politicians from the north for contributing to the
woes of the north and asked them to have the political willpower to
tell their leaders to develop the area.
03 April 07
