Let’s inculcate character formation in our children – Prof. Puplampu

A member of the National De­velopment Plan­ning Commis­sion (NDPC), Professor Bill Buenar Puplampu, has stressed the need for character formation at the basic level as part a holistic approach to education if Ghana was to prop up its human capital development

“As a psychologist, I will tell you that your character forma­tion is between age three and 12. Your core being is established by the time you are leaving primary school. Your ability to have values and to be ethical is established way from that age,” he said.

In a five-point recommenda­tion to a 30-member Technical Working Group inaugurated in Accra yesterday to develop Gha­na’s Human Capital Strategy, Prof. Puplampu who is also the Vice Chancellor of the Central Univer­sity implied that the maxim ‘catch them young and they shall be yours forever’ is what Ghana must adopt to change its narrative.

“It requires that we tackle this (issue of human capital devel­opment) not at the level of the politician in parliament but from the kids in primary and secondary school.

To the extent that the young person between the ages of 10 and 15 years old can tell the mother or father that ‘mum or dad, it is not done this way,” he said.

He said “We must create that stock of mindset which enables us to function in an orderly manner. That is why I say it is not all at about Science, Technolo­gy, Engineering and Mathe­matics (STEM) education.”

According to him, human capi­tal goes beyond the education and employment for the survival of an individual.

“It is the skill sets, mindsets, and dispositions which are re­quired to make a society develop economically, run sustainably, equitably, competitively and in an orderly manner.”

To him, whiles the hard side of human capital development may produce student’s knowledge skills, aptitudes, capacities and capabilities for economic survival and progress, the character for­mation side of it – attitudes, cred­ibility, ethicality would equip the students with disposition for societal stabil­ity, progress and peace.

Or­ganisations represented on the 30-member working group include the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Regional Inte­gration, Employment and Labour Relations, Education, Environ­ment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Trade and Industry, Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Education Service, Vice Chan­cellors Ghana, the Educational Reform Secretariat, Conference of Independent Universities, and Vice Chancellors of Technical Universities.

Others are National Council for Curriculum Assessment, Coun­cil for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, Ghana Statistical Service, Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Employers Association, Nation­al Service Secretariat, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Management De­velopment and Planning Institute, and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

The rest are National Council for Persons Living with Disability, Private Enterprises Federation, Trades Union Congress, Centre for Democratic Development, National Youth Authority, Africa Centre for Economic Transfor­mation, Pre-tertiary Education Directorate, and Ghana Tertiary Education Commission.

 BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI