Annals of Library Science and Documentation 1988, 35(3), 111·115

THE STATE OF EDUCATION AND LIBRARYSERVICES IN GHANA

Libraries are repositories of recorded knowledge.They perfonn infonnationaI, recreational, research, cultural, educational and conservationalfunctions, all of which contribute greatly to acountry's development. In this paper, the writerlooks at the general state of libraries in Ghana inrelation to the provision of education. Anassessment is made of the various types of libra-ries in the country - school, academic, publicand special, and their contributions to theeducational advancement of the country. Therole of the Government in library developmentis also discussed.

INTRODUCTION

.The scholarship of any society determines thecharacter of its libraries and defines the servicesthat they can render to that society. Somedelineation of literacy in the Ghanaian contextis therefore needed in order to address oneselfto the problem of an exploring relationshipbetween education and library development.

The reading population of Ghana may bedivided into three groups: the new literate,the semi-literate and the literate. The literate,predominantly having post-secondary schooltraining, read to develop and improve theirmind. They tend to satisfy their own wide-based reading needs once materials are provided.The new literate, essentially the non-readergraduates of adult literacy classes, use readingskills for survival - for example, to read postednotices and letters. The largest group is thesemi-literate who have got average education tosome extent, but not advanced. The importanceof school and public libraries in Ghana cannottherefore be over-emphasised.

FOR~:AL EDUCATION

The earliest contacts of Ghana with westerneducation were through the coastal forts erectedby the European trading nations. A number ofthese contained a school but few of such schools

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AAALEMNADepartment of Library & Archival StudiesUniversity of GhanaLegon, GHANA

achieved any prominence. It was not until thearrival of the christian missionaries to the thenGold Coast that formal education actuallystarted. The Catholic missionaries established aschool in 1572 in a fort at Elmina, and continu-ed to provide classes for children until the fortwas seized by the Dutch in 1637. There wereno further Catholic schools until Catholicfathers re-entered Elmina in 1880. Other schoolswere established by the Danes at ChristianborgCastle, and by the English at Cape Coast.

The colonial government became interestedin formal education during the nineteenthcentury, as they had need of clerks and adminis-trators for the expanding economy. From themiddle of the 19th century, therefore, variouslegislations were passed dealing with the ques-tion of education such as the Education Ordi-nance 1887.[1]

After the attainment of self-government in1957, the responsibility for directing education-al development passed from the civil service tothe newly formed Ministry of Education. Itwas at this time that the Accelerated Develop-ment Plan for Education was drawn up.[2] Oneof the aims of 'the new government was the pro-vision of basic education for every child ofschool-going age.

The Accelerated Development Plan placedemphasis on primary and secondary schools.A lot of these were established and a largenumber of such schools were transferred to localauthorities. The educational system covered aten-year elementary education, seven years ofsecondary school education and three or fouryears of University education.

Ghana, therefore, achieved its politicalindependence with an educational systempatterned on the British system. This type ofeducation was elitist, largely theoretical andliterary. Vocational education was not en-couraged, and was in fact scorned.

Libraries in this type of educational systemwere ill-equipped. Except in well establishedgovernment and mission schools, there was

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a total absence of school libraries. Learningwas by rote, memorisation, and students wereprepared solely for examinations. The drop-out rates at both primary and secondary schoolswere very high and these drop-outs had nomarketable skills to make them employable.Many therefore relapsed into illiteracy, andmany others constituted a social menace.

NEW EDUCATIONAL POllCY

A new policy on education has been introducedinto the country with effect from September1987. This system is structurally and quanti-tatively different from the previous one builtupon the colonial conceptions and design. Ittries to avoid the pitfalls of the previous educa-tional system by providing vocation orientedprogrammes for the children.

At the primary level, education is to bebroad-based, and is aimed at inculcating per-manent and functional literacy in mothertongue and any other Ghanaian languages. Thejunior secondary school, the most revolutionaryaspect of the new educational system, is to beacademic and pre-vocational. Subjects taughthere will enable the children to acquire newknowledge and develop skills to make themrespect the dignity of labour. Any drop-outat the end of the junior secondary educationwill have acquired some marketable skills thatwould make him employable.

The senior secondary school is for thosewho are able and willing to complete the sixyear secondary education. It has both academicand vocational courses, but largely in prepara-tion for higher education. A successful comple-tion then opens up an avenue into any of thethird cycle institutions.

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE LIBRARIES

The new educational system places more res-ponsibility on the student for his own educa-tion, as against the former system which tendedto rely more on the teacher. This means thatthere is a greater use of books in the newsystem than the old system. There is thus theneed for more books and more libraries, foreach individual according to his own intellectualcapacity.

The system also relies more on individualabilities, initiatives and expertise. It places more

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stress on practical tram mg. This is wh~ it isexpected that school and college libraries inGhana should be adequately developed to meetthe needs and expectations of the students. Thelibrary plays a similar role in the school curri-culum just as science laboratories or languagelaboratories. The only difference perhaps isthe fact that while a science or language labo-ratory is specific in its functions, the libraryhas an unlimited jurisdiction in the field ofknowledge.

Unfortunately, school and college librariesare the least developed and most neglectedamong libraries in Ghana. Most of the primaryand secondary schools in Ghana do not have anylibraries in the real sense. When existing facilitiesand services of school libraries in Ghana areobserved, "It would appear that they are morecollections of materials in space with very littleequipment for students to use." [3] A survey byI.K. Antwi[ 4] showed that no serious and sys-tematic efforts have been made to providerelevant and effective libraries in the trainingcolleges in Ghana. The libraries lack amongother things, "suitable accomodation, equip-ment, furniture, competent staff and financialsupport. The bookstock is also inadequate,irrelevant, un-coordinated and outdated." [51There is therefore a need for regular exami-nation of the operations of the school andcollege libraries with a view to keeping themup-to-date with the changing functions ofschool libraries worldwide.

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Ghana has a Library Board which was establish-ed in 1960, whose functions include the es-tablishment, managing, equipping and maintain-ing public libraries in the country. This servicebegan very well with the establishments oflibraries in all the regional capitals and most ofthe districts in the country. There is also aschool libraries division which provided libraryservices to the secondary schools in the country.However, economic constraints have limited thcactivities of the Library Board. The mobilelibrary services to the rural areas have beendiscontinued because all the vehicles have brok-en down. There is also the problem of staff.Most of the regional and district libraries aremanned by non-professional staff, and this hasaffected the services of thc public libraries.

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An attempt by the Library Board to houseall its regional libraries in suitable buildings andprovide libraries in all the districts in the coun-try to be manned by professionals did not cometo fruition. [6] Many areas in the country donot therefore have public libraries.

With the introduction of the new educa-tional system, the trend is now towards dayschools as against boarding schools. In the cir-cumstance, the public libraries have to be de-veloped to cope with the large influx of daystudents into the libraries. The public libraryhas rightly been described as "the university ofthe masses". An improvement in the systemwill therefore go a long way to provide "sup-port services" for the new educational system,since most of our day students are faced withvarious inconveniences at home such as lack ofelectricity, noise, overcrowding and poor sani-tary conditions. Such environments do notencourage reading, and a good public librarysystem becomes essential.

The public libraries should therefore bebrought closer to the people. Services shouldbe extended to village and street corners throughthe use of the book mobiles. Obsolete materialsin these libraries should also be updated andthere should be well planned hours of services.What is needed most in the urban centres arelarge reading rooms for the users. When theservices are extended to the rural people, meti-culous care should be taken in programmeplanning and material selection. The staffwho are involved in this type of service shouldbe dedicated to the task. [7] It is a paradoxthat though most of the population of Ghana isconcentrated in the rural areas, public libraryservices are concentrated in the urban centres.Libraries can help in adult education program-mes through various services to these people.

ACADEMIC LIBRARIES

There are three universities in Ghana at present.These are in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast. Theoldest and largest is the university of Ghanawhich was established in 1948. Apart from theuniversities, there are five Diploma awardinginstitutions known as Advanced or SpecialistColleges of Education. Three of these are basedin Winneba, one in Ajumako and the other inKumasi. These were established to produceteachers for the second cycle institutions.

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All these institutions have libraries. withthe University of Ghana Library. better knOWI1as the Balme Library having the most extensivecollection. Although these libraries make consi-derable effort to build up their collections.they face various constraints. These constraintsinclude financial and space limitations. Due toforeign exchange limitations, the Balme Libraryat the University of Ghana for example is "notcomprehensive in its collection." [81 The samemay be said of the other academic libraries.These libraries rely mainly on donations fromagencies, publishers and other libraries overseas.

The primary objective of these libraries isto satisfy the instructional and research require-ments of the students and faculty. The rangeand diversification of information needs of boththe students and the faculty are reflected in thcvariety and depth of the library collections.Alex Kwapong, former Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Ghana, once described a univer-sity library as "the heart, if not aorta, of anyuniversity, and its academic health, intellectualvitality and effectiveness, therefore, closelydepend on the state of health and excellence ofits library which is indeed its life blood. Aninert and moribund library invariably means aninert and morib und University." [9]

If the existing conditions of our academiclibraries is not improved as a matter of urgency,then we may end up with moribund universities.Although the manpower situation has improvedconsiderably with the return of many of the pro-fessional librarians, there is still the problem ofinadeguate and outdated bookstock whichcontributes very little to teaching and researchin these institutions.

There is also the problem of space. TheBalme Library should have moved into newbuildings two years ago. Incidentally, thefoundations have not even been laid for thesebuildings. University of Cape Coast Libraryshould have moved into its permanent newbuildings by now. Although a start has beenmade here, progress on the building is ratherslow. The same situation applies to the exten-sions to the Library of the University of Scienceand Technology, Kumasi.

Universities being places of academic re-search and enlightenment, it is always essentialthat up to date facilities are provided in theirlibraries. Facilities such as computers are notfound in any of the University Libraries inGhana. Paradoxically, mini-computers can be

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found in offices of some lecturers and adminis-trators! There is therefore an urgent needto improve the present state of our academiclibraries if we are not to be left behind in thistechnological age.

SPECIAL LIBRARIES

Special libraries are usually found in businessand industrial establishments, government de-partments, and universities; they are maintainedby professional associations and learned societiesand research institutes. The Council for Scienti-fic and Industrial Research (C.S.I.R.) which co-ordinates all the research institutes in the coun-try, has a Central Reference and ResearchLibrary, which was established in 1964. Thelibrary has the responsibility for collecting,storing, retrieving and disseminating scientificand technical literature relevant to research inprogress in the various institutes under theCouncil. It also co-ordinates library activitieswithin the Council's eight Institute Libraries.

Apart from the C.S.I.R. group of libraries,the Research Library on African Affairs isanother important special library. Originallyknown as the George Padmore Library, it wasfounded in 1961 and mandated to collect, pro-cess and disseminate recorded literature, historyand culture of the whole of Africa. It also per-forms the functions of a National Library, sinceGhana has no officially designated NationalLibrary.

There are also libraries m governmentagencies such as the Ministries of Agriculture,Defence and Interior; the Parliament House,High Court, the Export Promotion Council, andProfessional bodies such as the Banks and theAccountants Association.

As in the case of the Academic Libraries,these libraries are also faced with the problemsof funding and space. Research libraries areknown for their speed, up-to-dateness andprecision in providing information to theirusers. However, economic constraints haverendered the special libraries in Ghana ineffec-tive. Their materials are mostly donated byforeign agencies and organisations, and so mostof the stock is often of little or no use to re-searchers. Lacking adequate library services,researchers in these institutions are often frus-trated and have to depend on their own privatelibraries or those of their professional colleagues,however meager they may be.

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Most of these libraries were started intemporary buildings which now appear unsuita-ble for the purpose. New buildings or extensionsto older ones are often difficult to undertake.An example is the new building to house theCentral Reference and Research Librarv of theC.S.I.R. which was started in earnest, 'but hascome to a standstill owing to financial const-raints.

Staff has also been a problem with speciallibraries in Ghana. According to Od doye [10 I.most special libraries in the country have beencontent with only one professional staff, withthe possible exception of the Ghana ExportPromotion Council which has maintained twoprofessionals for a considerable length of time.Faced with these problems, the special librariesfind it increasingly difficult to perform thefunctions for which they were set up.

CONCLUSION

At present, Ghana has the highest educationallevel in West Africa. It also has the longesthistory of free primary education in Africa.Compared to other black African countries,Ghana is better off in library developments.of all West African Countries, Ghana is also thebest equipped in retrospective bibliographies.[11]. It is surprising therefore that the firstlibrary school in West Africa was set up inGhana in 1944.

However, our libraries are gradually dete-riorating and something must be done imme-diately to save the situation from total collapse.If planners of the new policy on educationexpect it to succeed, then adequate provisionshould be made for library services in thecountry. It is rather unfortunate that scantattention is paid to libraries when a new educa-tional curriculum is planned. What we oftenforget is that no system of education can besuccessfully executed without libraries. Anunalloyed appreciation by the governmentof the fact that library and information servicesare vital to cultural, social, economic, politicaland industrial development of the country,is the essential first step towards library develop-ment in Ghana. Adequate funds and physicalfacilities should be provided to the varioustypes of libraries in the country.

It may be pertinent at this stage to appealto the Government to establish a NationalLibrary in the country. Th~ absence of this

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library has created a big vacuum in the develop-ment of libraries in Ghana. The Ghana LibraryAssociation should therefore continue its effortsto get the government to establish this impor-tant library in the country.

In modern times, the relationship betweeneducation and libraries has been stressed, andthere is a cry for the provision of libraries in all

educational institutions from primary to uni-versity levels. Libraries should be seen as anintegral part of the educational system. and nonew educational system should be plannedwithout adequate provision for libraries. Libra-ries and education must develop on the samelines as without one, there will be little use forthe other.

ERRATA

In June 1988 issue of Annals the title of thearticle on page 58 should read as "LANGU-AGE AND INDEXING LANGUAGENALIMOV AND GARDIN REVISITED".

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