Ghanaian actress and entrepreneur Yvonne Nelson has raised serious concerns about the state of the educational system in Ghana. During an interview with JoyNews, Nelson recounted a troubling experience she had while traveling to Kumasi, where she observed students carrying cutlasses as they walked to school.
Nelson expressed her shock at the outdated practice, stressing the need for significant improvements within the education sector. “We need to do better. I have a video on my phone. I was on my way to Kumasi one time after I launched my book and I saw kids who were walking to school and they had cutlasses in their hands and I stopped them and asked why and they said they weed before they went to the class.
How are they going to weed before they go to class? They are going to sweat, mentally they are not prepared. How do you allow this in a school? How do parents think it’s ok to give a cutlass to school? What if somebody gets angry, grabs a cutlass, hurts their friend? Really, 2024? Is this happening in our educational system? Does the Ministry of Education know that this thing is happening so we have to do better,” she said.
In addition to her concerns about the current state of education, Nelson has actively pursued educational entrepreneurship. She recently expanded her educational initiatives with the launch of the Yvonne Nelson International School, complementing her existing Just Like Mama daycare center.
Nelson revealed that her decision to enter the field of education was inspired by her own experiences as a parent. “My daughter started school when she was one year 6 months old and it was actually the care. She will come home with a bruise or an insect bite and you expect the school to call you to report it before she gets home but you the mother or parent will notice before the school says anything. That was like a minus and a red flag. And with the academics too, I wasn’t really getting anything from her from school.
As a parent, you should see a change in their vocabulary and the things they are saying. I watch everything my daughter does, I help her in reading, and doing flashcards for her, I’m really into education so I got a little worried and I thought to myself this is something I can actually do and do well because I am a passionate human being,” she said.
Despite the challenges of balancing her roles in acting, producing, and managing educational ventures, Nelson noted that her background in production has been instrumental in navigating this new phase of her career.
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