Promoting Scientific Culture in Ghana

In March this year, President John Agyekum Kufuor made a keynote speech in the official opening of All-Nations University, in Koforidua. The President made three cardinal statements worth reiterating. First, he noted that the modernization of Ghana requires an increase in its stock of scientific human resources. Second, that unless we make the application of science part of our culture the modernization of Ghana will be hindered. Third, he challenged the country’s universities and other institutions of higher learning to produce practical scientists to contribute to the establishment of modern Ghana. Fourth, the President also stated that in order to make science and mathematics learning attractive to Ghanaian youth, 15 Teacher Training Colleges out of the 38 have been designated science institutions with the sole object to produce science teachers for secondary schools.

Many critical questions and issues arise from President Kufuor’s speech. First and fore most, what constitutes the scientific human resources of a country? Further, who are practical scientists and how do the universities and other institutions of higher learning produce them? Moreover, the President’s statement that we should make the application of science an integral part of the Ghanaian culture suggests that we should also embrace an established scientific culture. Then the question is this: what is scientific culture? Furthermore, the President stated that 15 Teacher Training Colleges have been designated science institutions with a mission to produce science teachers for secondary schools. However, what is entailed in that project? This brings into the fore another important question: What is science?

We note that unless the president’s desire to promote science learning is based on verifiable data or study, he is not practicing what he is preaching to Ghanaians. Our position is that the President who was so eloquent in articulating the need for scientific culture in Ghana has done nothing to make it part of his government. We are yet to read, see or hear of any government-funded research project. Oh, yes we always find excuses in our standard refrain: We have no money! If money will literally bring scientific culture to Ghana, why should the president go about preaching it? Even apart from the lack of action at promoting scientific culture in Ghana, where is the government’s science policy?

In a scientific culture, what is not false is that backed by measurable data, not ‘common sense’. What cannot be measured, verified, or quantified does not exist!. Indeed, measurement, verification, or quantification entails comparison, so there are no absolutes. A consequence of this is that, nothing is complete; the best is always yet to be found. From our perspective, scientific culture is a way of thinking and attitude of mind. It includes persistent questioning, inquiry, data collection, analysis and evaluation, logical reasoning, experimentation, and continuous improvement. In sum, the basic tenets of scientific culture include the following elements: a) Nothing is sacred, nothing is permanent, and everything is open to investigation and questioning; b) there is no higher authority to appeal to, but the verifiable works of others and any data at hand; c) There is no certainty but what is most probable. In short, in scientific culture, there is no an omnipotent god to solve our problems for us. On the contrary, human beings are free to make choices and are responsible for the outcomes. .Looking at our society, most of the elements of the scientific culture may run counter to the beliefs and the worldview of a vast majority of our people. Thus, establishing a scientific culture may require a fundamental shift in the way we think, act, and make decisions.

It must be stressed, however, that the scientific culture is not restricted only to the physical sciences (i.e. biology, chemistry, physics, etc.). This brings us again to the question of what is science. Historically, science meant the physical sciences, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. At present, any field of study whose theories and models are verifiable through the scientific method is veritably a science field. This includes economics, anthropology, sociology, management, criminology, history (some areas), geography, and psychology. Consequently, a country’s stock of scientific human resources includes all those who use the scientific method in theory or practice. We want to emphasize that physical scientists who understand the social world are more capable of making valuable contributions to improve human conditions than those who lack such understanding. This suggests that the social sciences are as important to our development as the physical sciences.

Nevertheless, what do we do as a nation-state to make science an integral part of our culture? The application of scientific culture across the private sphere is difficult to achieve because of opposition to cultural change, violation of private space, human right issues, and the time required for making science an integral part of our entire culture. The process of infusion of our culture with the scientific culture could take at least over a generation to occur. However, the process could be speeded up through careful interventions in the public sphere.

We can benefit from the scientific culture without necessarily making it an integral part of the culture of the private space. So the question is, what do we do as a nation-state in order to benefit from the scientific culture? From our longitudinal observations of other countries, the answer is to let the scientific culture rule the public space. The implications of this are far reaching. One of the implications is that public policy development and implementation must be based on verifiable data and the best available scientific theories. Ideas upon which public policies are based must be tested in Ghana for their technical and social feasibility before they are used for making public policies. That is, the solutions to our public problems lie with us on Earth and not with anybody else. Pre-packaged models, designed in either Euro-America or the corridors of international agencies such as the United Nations or the World Bank, are ineffectual in making a dent in our hydra-headed economic and social problems.

‘Common sense’ cannot be a substitute for technical or scientific knowledge. Whatever is done in the public arena must be continuously under scientific study with the objective of continuous improvement. This is vitally important in the way we prepare the youth for adulthood, especially in public education. The scientific culture challenges quite implicitly, the age-old model of the teacher, lecturer, or professor as the sole custodian of knowledge, whom students should never question. Further, students are hardly allowed to experience the process of knowledge construction through fruitful discussion, research, and questioning. Furthermore, students are not exposed to heuristic science and art of problem-solving or problem-posing. Our education model has not benefited us all these donkey years! A different approach informed by the scientific culture is urgently required. We refer readers to our previous articles, National Math Phobia (1 & 2) and Ghana Flanks Math & Science: Analysis 1&2, for what we proposed to minimize mathematics phobia and promote science in Ghana.

We should also note that promoting the study of science is different from promoting the scientific culture. One can study science without embracing the scientific culture, but it is impossible to embrace the scientific culture without studying science. In fact, many Ghanaians learned basic science at the secondary school level. And a few have studied science at the university level. Yet, a handful few, if any, have embraced the scientific culture or applied it in their lives or in the public sphere. Consequently, the promotion of scientific culture goes beyond the study of science. The promotion of scientific culture requires the transformation of attitudes, hearts, patterns of thinking, and worldview than the mere study of science, particularly when the exclusive end-goal of the study of science is the successful performance at public examination.

In the second part of this series, we will try to map out a path for a national science policy for Ghana. The final part will look at the specific roles of Ghanaian universities and other institutions of higher learning in promoting scientific culture in Ghana.

Fredua-Kwarteng & Ahia F.
University of Toronto, Canada

Views expressed by the author(s) do not necessarily reflect those of GhanaHomePage.