Samuel Amponsah

Philosophies of education serve as frameworks for producing lifelong learners and a knowledgeable and skilled human workforce who develop their societies. Ghana’s education system currently favours a western educational philosophy, relegating its indigenous philosophies to the back burner.

I am an academic in the field of curriculum studies. In a recent paper, I argue that education in Ghana needs to incorporate more elements based on an authentic Ghanaian framework. Based on the view that education, culture and development should be connected, I highlight the educational strengths of African folklore.

I conclude that aspects of Akan folklore, including its stories and proverbs, its kinship rights and rules, its moral codes, its corporate and humanistic perspective, complement the country’s current westernised education.

It is in this spirit that education lecturer Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour has referred to the Akan proverb Tete wobi ka, tete wobi kyere. It means “heritage has