A country that respects the lawyer more than the teacher – My Ghana!

Hard work pays, indeed. But are there separate definitions for hard work? Well. We have built a society where others’ hard work is more recognized. You know what I am talking about. Yes, you know.

Okay, let me clarify. Last week, I learned from media reports that over one thousand fresh lawyers were ‘baptized’ into the ‘learned profession’ and the whole country went (and has been going) agog with praises and worship for the green counsel. The celebrants must have taken a lot of hard work and sacrifices to achieve that seemingly intractable feat.

Should I not join the masses to celebrate and pat them on the back? Of course. By all means, I doff my hat to them for their achievements, so far. My plan is to become one in the distant future. Lawyer Aboagye. Lol.

I hear to be called to the bar, one has to forego a lot of social, religious, and sometimes, economic commitments to concentrate fully on the course to be called to the bar or be barred from practicing as counsel. (I’m told counsel can be plural or singular.

For instance, it is correct to say, that “Samsom Lardi Anyenini is counsel for the accused. Or Yaw Gyan, Akto Ampaw (may he RIP), and Kofi Bentil are counsel for the embattled IGP who is before the Sahyadri, answering to whispers and allegations). Oh, Ghana!

But there is one question I have been trying so hard to find answers to. The question is ‘why is it a big deal to be called to the bar but a small deal to be inducted as a teacher? Should we not place a higher premium on the teacher than the lawyer? Why does the lawyer have more societal value than the teacher? Can someone tell me why? I don’t get it!

Oh, did I hear someone say that law school has much more stringent and rigorous hurdles to cross? Is it the case that one has to be an ‘A’ student to get admission, in the first place?

How about the teaching route? Are we saying an average student can be admitted into any university of education or college of education? These are questions that may be easy to answer. From what I hear around, I am tempted to nod in the affirmative to all the questions I have raised.

But I can’t do that because I do not have any data to support that willed affirmation. As a research student, I gravitate more toward scientific data; and I limit conjectures.

On the Law with Samson on Joynews yesterday, October 22, 2023, the learned director of the Ghana School of Law, Barima Nana Yaw Kodie Oppong espoused the rigidities in Ghana’s legal education. So, can we be that rigid to the extent that the former Chief Justice’s children could not access the Ghana School of Law (perhaps because of their academic incompetence)? I see.

If it has been done so well that we are all praising the managers of ‘Mokola’, why can’t the same rigidities be spoken of in the case of becoming a teacher or a nurse? Why are the systems so loose in the Colleges of Education? (Or are they not?)

While we wait for the system to adjust and equal that of legal education, can we praise the teacher who passes his licensure examination, in equal measure? Can we mention their names on radio and TV and post them on our Facebook walls to celebrate them like we do for the lawyers?

I don’t think this is asking too much. There are genuine teachers who are doing a lot for this country, albeit they are not well compensated. One such great teacher is Elder Jacob Mensah of Akoase Roman Catholic Basic School. Barely two years after taking over the administration of the school which near-collapse, this diligent man has transformed the school into a model of learning.

Owusu Daniel of Akwadum MA JHS, New Abirem is another fine teacher who is doing so well, juggling the drudgery of raising three boys and handling overpopulated classrooms. Imagine the heat from a class of 70 students, on a Friday afternoon after ‘second break’! Lol

As a Human Resource practitioner with a cardinal focus on work performance, I praise effort, knowing that enhanced effort will generate glorious outcomes or results. Dear teachers, we acknowledge your efforts. You are doing well for Mother Ghana.

But please, you too, enhance your social appeal by continually developing yourselves. Take short courses, read wide, speak well in public, and learn some IT tools on the internet. It doesn’t cost much.