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If you know the University of Ghana anthem; he describes the school as a source of learning. If you know the official currency of the University of Ghana; he seeks to proceed with integrity (integri precedamus). If you know the mission statement of the University of Ghana; it seeks to be a world-class research institute. But if you happen to be a student at the University of Ghana now (post-covid-19 lockdown), you’ll find that all of these supposed attributes of the school are a sham. You will even think of the school system as a union, for in this era the University of Ghana sacrificed quality for quantity and in a race to beat time. This article seeks to expose the University’s very act of sacrificing integrity to face increasing pressure instead of sanctioning appropriate and lasting solutions.
The sudden change
It was around March 2020 that the University of Ghana suspended its semester activities before schools were suspended nationwide following a reported case indicating that two students tested positive for the corona virus. In order to limit the damage, the University decided to resume the school with strictly online interaction, with the exception of a few departments. Thus, sakai and Zoom have become the leading online platform for teaching, learning and assessment. This sudden structural change was accompanied by relevant issues to be resolved, the familiarity of teachers and students with these platforms, the reliability of these platforms, the credibility of the assessments through these platforms, etc. Despite these unresolved issues, the University of Ghana continued to end the 2020 semester with online interaction.
A new semester with the school’s national approval has come with sudden news from the University reintroducing the online teaching method as well as a modular system where different levels will take turns to complete the semester to reduce the clutter. Levels 100 and 400 (February to March) and later level 200 and 300 (April to May). In addition, two sudden structural changes reduced the semi-annual contact from almost four months to just two months (ie.
PROBLEMS
compromise on teaching method
By operating strictly online for some departments, the University of Ghana has compromised traditional methods of teaching and learning. As difficult as it may sound, given the tireless efforts of some faculty to provide equal or better service to students. Because the students cannot have a healthy interaction with the teachers, the teaching has not been of high quality. There are network stability issues during online course sections, some faculty suddenly disconnect due to technical issues, students unable to join an online course due to app capacity, and others minor distractions that reduce the quality of online learning. This has forced a number of professors to instead record videos and audios before their students can access their course information.
Compromise on the quality of studies
The essential aspect of university education is the capacity to know certain knowledge, to grasp certain concepts, to evaluate certain positions and to strengthen their intellectual capacities by internalizing them, but the structural changes currently underway at the University of Ghana do not not allow such a quality of studies. Traditionally, courses that last 13 weeks are reduced to 6 weeks, with no proportional change in course content and load. Students register for an average of six courses, which implies that students use one week to complete each course per study time. Because of this difficulty, teachers rush into course content, students are forced to read more in a short period of time. This chew and pour amount for the best students and the pressure on the worst student. Students are likely to perform appallingly under such conditions. By these facts, University of Ghana students going through these semesters with little desire to study their course but with the sole aim of successfully completing these courses by any means necessary.
Online reviews are not credible.
As a student and a writer, I have to admit that through online assessment I have successfully completed courses that I should have had the proper education to really do.
The reality at the moment is that the more the assessment is done online, the less credible the University of Ghana scoring system becomes. Indeed, online assessment does not guarantee independent work. Students take turns helping each other complete their test and quizzes. Students write homework for their classmates. In fact, some graduates, senior colleagues, and non-students are the ones who complete the homework for students to get their grades. Some people make money by charging students for homework on their behalf; Thus, students will get a certificate for a course they have never actually studied if such a system were to be permanent.
Produce poorer graduates
The new changes at the University of Ghana are too big without a corresponding infrastructure to verify the drawbacks. By forcing students to do the impossible in six weeks and a poorer quality course process, students are forced to engage in disgraceful practices to which the online assessment method gives way. Obviously, if the University decided to strictly assess students on site, then it would have no justification for refusing to teach students on site. But the truth is becoming evident that the University is neglecting all of this obvious substandard teaching, learning, and assessment. But it will rather greatly affect its credibility as a university to reward academic achievements in this country by international standards.
The number of students that the school admits is in fact beyond its infrastructural capacity. When the pandemic became well known, one would have thought that the University would instead be reducing the number of admissions this time around but it did otherwise, with the intention of rolling out an online / modular system. But careful consideration of its effect on the quality of education has been overlooked. The University is in a race to expand and beat the times, but by this act it is sacrificing integrity by bringing out the worst in students. It will produce graduates who have successfully completed courses they have never studied. For now, just know that the University of Ghana is in jeopardy.
There has been resistance among the student front and some senior members against these structural changes which have forced the university to revert to the two-year term for such a system, but the main question remains, how the University of Ghana repairs the evil and the continued damage that such a system has produced. How to compensate for damage to studies and poor performance during this time. By the urgent need to restore the school calendar and the strict e-learning method, we can describe the post-lockdown structural changes in Covid as a failed experiment. But you have to recognize that as a world-class institution, you only damage your reputation by implementing policies that cannot undo the damage. It is a hard lesson for the University of Ghana to learn; students are not just devices to experiment with. Policies must be well thought out and gradual if school authorities value the lives and interests of students.
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