The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has admitted that Ghana’s curriculum does not teach students about the history of the country’s slave trade.
In an interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show, the minister noted that he found out about this grave issue when a university graduate engaged him on Ghana’s Year of Return initiative.
“During the year of return when tourists arrived here, someone asked me, uncle, why are the whites and diasporans coming to Ghana? Someone who has visited university asked me how they got to America.
“Then I asked him about the transatlantic slave trade. He said it is not in the curriculum. So I went and truthfully, it is not in. No, I tell you. That is the big question.”
Dr Adutwum noted that this came to be after a former Education Minister appended his or her signature to a curriculum structured by the Social Studies Association of America.
According to the Minister, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) is working on a new curriculum that educates Ghanaian children on the history of the country.
Here are some facts to know about the transatlantic slave trade.
Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle: These were two of the most prominent slave forts used by European powers, particularly the Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, and British, to hold enslaved Africans before they were shipped across the Atlantic. These castles were also used as administrative centers for colonial powers in the region.
The Role of Chiefs and Traders: Local African traders, often working in conjunction with European slave traders, captured and sold Africans from various inland regions to the coastal forts. Chiefs in some cases were complicit in these activities, exchanging captives or prisoners of war for European goods.
The Middle Passage: Enslaved Africans from Ghana and other parts of West Africa were transported across the Atlantic Ocean in brutal conditions, known as the Middle Passage, to the Americas. Many died during this horrific journey.