A University Lecturer, Dr. Kofi Owusu Yeboah is calling for a concerted national approach towards the promotion of our rich traditional culture through films. He is unhappy most television stations are showing foreign telenovelas and other films that promote the culture of other countries against the broadcasting of competitive content that promote the culture of tribal or ethnic groups to the foreign world.
He agrees with Member of a Policy Think tank, Professor Gyimah-Boadi for criticising what he called “educational illiteracy in Ghana”, a situation where our educational curricula are tilted towards indoctrinating Ghanaian graduates with the history and culture from other countries. Speaking in an interview on whose responsibility it is to promote Ghanaian culture through films, Dr. Owusu Yeboah of the Kessben University College identified loopholes in Ghana’s educational system and called for a more practical educational approach towards raising students’ understanding of Ghanaian culture to influence behavior moral lifestyles.
He blamed the media especially television stations for “killing the local creative art industry by showing foreign movie content at expense of the Ghanaian films. Though the Ghana Journalists Association’s code of ethics wants the showing of local films and drama programs to be an important means of education and promotion of national consciousness as well as vehicles for promoting the social, economic and cultural objectives of the country, some media organisations flout this important rule with impunity.
The university Don is worried that some films and television programs with adult content are shown at times when children are likely to be watching or listening, and stressed the need for strict parental guidance and counseling in such cases. He is calling for more stakeholder collaborations in reviewing the visual content on Ghanaian media to help promote decency, morality, social and cultural values among all Ghanaians.
