“Our Kids Are Smarter Than Us – Education System Must Evolve, Says IMANI’s Kofi Bentil”

Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has called for a radical overhaul of Ghana’s education system, arguing that today’s children are “smarter, more exposed, and completely different” from previous generations, yet they are being forced into an outdated educational structure.

Speaking on The KeyPoints on TV3, Mr. Bentil stressed that today’s learners are computer natives whose intelligence and interaction with technology far surpass what existing teaching and assessment models were designed to support.

“Our kids are smarter than us, period. This generation is more exposed and they engage with the world differently,” he said. “They are computer natives. Many of the things we were forced to do mentally, their devices can do in seconds. Yet we still insist on applying old paradigms that don’t fit them.”

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According to him, the current system fails to reflect the realities of a rapidly changing world, especially as digital tools reshape learning, problem-solving and communication. He likened the situation to driving: “It’s like moving from manual to automatic vehicles. The world is moving forward, we are never going back to manual vehicles.” 

He argues that this widespread collusion compromises the core function of examinations, which ought to be an accurate evaluation of learning outcomes, the standard of teaching, available facilities, and education policy.

“Cheating has become organised in some schools. Teachers, headmasters and even invigilators are involved, they pull money to do those things” he revealed. “But the purpose of examinations is not to pass students. It is to assess the entire education system - teaching, learning, facilities, and policy.”

He warned that these practices have contributed to declining educational standards, evidenced by cases of students  with high grades yet unable to write their names.  

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Bentil criticised frequent and politically motivated policy changes, describing them as experiments conducted on students without long-term planning or bipartisan consensus.
“We are failing the kids. It’s not the kids who are failing,” he stressed. “Education is one of the areas where we should do little or no politics. We need a bipartisan agreement to fix this system and stop experimenting with children.”

“The system must evolve to meet the generation we have not the one we used to be,” he emphasized.
Mr. Bentil called for a national rethink of teaching, learning and assessment models.