University chancellor in Ghana calls for studying Nkrumah — MyJoyOnline
In Ghana, the chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Sir Samuel Esson Jonah, said that the philosophical works of the country’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, receive insufficient attention in the educational curriculum. According to MyJoyOnline, he called it ironic that Nkrumah’s works are studied at universities outside Ghana.
Nkrumah’s works in the educational curriculum
In his opening remarks at the 15th Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures, Jonah said that Ghanaian students can pass through the entire education system with almost no exposure to Nkrumah’s key intellectual contributions.
Among his works, the chancellor mentioned Consciencism, Africa Must Unite and Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. According to him, Nkrumah is included in curricula at African American studies departments at U.S. universities: students read his works, are assigned them, are examined on them and discuss them.
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Appeal to the university
Jonah noted that Nkrumah studied at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. In his view, it is telling that American students are more likely to encounter Nkrumah as a thinker, while many Ghanaian students know him only as a statue.
The chancellor, who described himself as a committed supporter of Nkrumah’s ideas, proposed that the vice-chancellor and the Convocation of the University of Cape Coast consider more broadly incorporating these ideas into curricula. He stressed that he does not claim to be writing syllabi, but that the necessary books already exist.
The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Lectures were established in 1974. Over five decades, this platform has hosted African scholars and statesmen to discuss Nkrumah’s ideas, Ghana’s development and the broader African experience.
