Silence becomes dishonesty sometimes. As a teacher, I’ve walked the long road of education – first degree, PGDE, MPhil, years shaping young minds. Like many colleagues, I entered this profession believing education may not bring instant riches, but it’d guarantee dignity, stability, and respect. Yet this Christmas, our appreciation was symbolized by two fish pies and a malt.
In the same community, hairdressers shared bags of rice and gallons of oil with their workers. It wasn’t jealousy that stirred my heart; it was confusion, sadness, and dislocation.
Artists, creatives, influencers, and online personalities confidently speak of figures that sound unreal to the average teacher. Some earn in a day what an academic may never see in a lifetime. A man with no degree can command wealth that centuries of scholarship may not match. This ain’t an attack on creatives – every honest hustle deserves respect. But it raises a question: Has education in Ghana become wealthless, or has the system stopped valuing it?
Education builds the foundation of every profession. Teachers produce doctors, engineers, lawyers, and artists. Yet teachers are trapped in a cycle where passion substitutes for prosperity and sacrifice replaces reward. We’re told teaching is a “calling,” and our reward is in heaven. But a calling shouldn’t condemn its servants to struggle.
No nation develops when those shaping its future are marginalized. We’re witnessing the triumph of an attention economy over a knowledge economy. Society pays more for visibility than value, more for noise than nurture.
Perhaps education ain’t wealthless; the system decided educators should live on endurance instead of equity. And that’s a national problem. If we underpay and exhaust teachers, we’ll face consequences. When teachers lose hope, societies lose direction .
Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year to all teachers.
Ɔpanyin Wireko,
Teacher & Educational Analyst
