Day 17: June 29th

Pics coming soon :0)

 

Thinking about Ghanaian life: Education/Gender/Economics

Pan-Africainism would ideally be embraced by the entire continent of Africa. Within Africa there are many countries which contain numerous ethnicities. Within those cultures, religious difference and economic divisions that create friction among Ghana's citizens. The three belief systems in order of social dominance are Christianity, Islam, and Traditional. The ethnicity of Ghanaians within the cultures is a large determining factor in who has the opportunity acquire an education. Since the Akan culture and thus its language, Twi, is viewed as superior, the other local languages (e.g. Ga, Ewe, etc) are suppressed. Often times, those who speak a less recognized local language, must also learn to speak Twi. In Ghana, as in many other parts of the world, wealth is directly connected to education. Both as a result of colonization and as a way to create a common language, English is the official language in schools. Therefore, if someone is not Akan and is fortunate enough to attend school, they will need to learn a third language. Within primary school, the first few grades are taught in the local language with elements of English. Therefore, for a Northern region family who moves to the southern region for opportunities, the children would attend a school that speaks a different local language and the student is presented English.

Within the ethnicities there are cultural attitudes towards the sexes which determines who can acquire and adequately take advantage of an education. Frequently, a male sibling's educational achievement is desired over the female's sibling. However, if the family is able to afford educational fees for both the male and female children, the girl must still fulfill her female obligations assigned to her by her family's culture. Because one's ethnicity and sex determines education then education is directly attached to the achievability of a high socio-economic status. As a result, Southern-region Christian Akan males tend to acquire the most education and achieve the highest economic status, where as Northern region non-Christian females will be the most discriminated against. Intra-Racial discrimination.