National security implications of the Ghanaian basic school timetable

Abstract

This paper used data from ethnographic school–based research to discuss the national security implications of the school timetable as a regulatory device. The data were collected from interviews with a critical case sample of 15 students, school–based non–participant observations and document analyses. The data were analysed using critical discourse analysis. The main arguments developed shows the social regulatory effects of the timetable inheres national security risks, including decontextualising citizens and traducing the developmental externalities of formal education. The violent enforcement of the timetable creates two groups of citizens: a) an authoritarian group of national leaders and; b) a docile group of followers, who are unable to support a culture of participatory democracy. The regulation of knowledge production results in: a) the disparagement of Indigeneity by privileging the use of foreign language to the consistent disadvantage of local language; b) the devaluation of citizenship education resulting in the development of citizens with no proper sense of civic commitment and identity as well as social cohesion and national trust. These serious risks require that the Ghanaian nation takes a more critical look at education policy making and curriculum reform.