Sankofa

‘Gazing Back’ to Indigenous Knowledge and Skills for Socio-economic Development of Ghana

Bibliographic Data

ID19451391
AuthorsKofi Poku Quan-Baffour (0000-0002-7290-8590, University of South Africa, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume10
Issue1
Pages1-5
Publication date2012-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies of Tribes and Tribals (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0972-639X • E-ISSN: 2456-6799
PublisherKamla Raj Enterprises (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1080/0972639x.2012.11886637
OpenAlexW2140489681
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited5

Ghana attained political independence in 1957. Before colonial rule young people were taught indigenous skills like food preservation, weaving of clothes and brewing of gin for livelihood. Unemployment was unknown as no one idled about. Formal school was introduced to educate young people for colonial civil service as clerks, interpreters and preachers. To protect European interests, indigenous economic activities were banned. This did not only stifle development of indigenous economic activities but encouraged school graduates to look down upon indigenous industries. The negative colonial attitude has contributed to high unemployment and low industrialization. This study employed the qualitative research approach where 400 students and school leavers, 10 headmasters, 10 parents and 5 employers were selected for interviews. The study found that Ghanaian school graduates have no specific knowledge and skills for employment. It was recommended that to reduce unemployment and increase socio-economic development indigenous industries should be taught at school

Agriculture · Clothing · Colonialism · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Indigenous · Livelihood · Political science · Politics · Poverty · Sociology · Unemployment · Education Systems and Policy · Law

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub