At long last, Dr. Yunus Dumbe has fulfilled his dream of becoming a University lecturer. In 2014 he was appointed a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His struggle to pursue formal education should be a source of inspiration for many late starters. Attending Class 4 at age 17, he battled through inequality and lack of educational opportunity to achieve what many people could only dream about.

A dirty, gully-filled road leads to Dr. Yunus Dumbe’s small village of Dahile, near Hamile in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Dahile is a non-descript village with its key redeeming feature being its proximity to Burkina Faso, hence the opportunity it offers for cross-border trade. Children still play barefoot and shirtless in the open. Early in the morning women could be seen carrying heavy loads of water and firewood on their heads with their babies perched dangerously on their backs. Sheep still rummage through the heap of trash not too far the Dahile Government Primary School Park foraging for anything edible. The Dahile Government Primary School has changed tremendously over the years. About 30 years ago, it was a 3-classroom mud building with thatched-roofs that got ripped off with any heavy downpour. Today it is a multi-classroom block with corrugated iron-sheets with pupils who spend part of the day in their parents’ farms after school.

Dr. Yunus Dumbe spent part of his life in Hamile at the Falahiyya Islamic School. His family, converts to Islam from Traditional Religion, had always nurtured the ambition of seeing their children emerge as renowned Islamic scholars. This hope had implications for Yunus Dumbe’s education as he never had the chance to attend secular primary or secondary school whilst he was in Dahile.

In 1988 he escaped the poverty of the North in search of economic opportunities in Accra and to pursue further Islamic studies. He settled in Nima, moving in with his cousin, Hamidu Dingane, who could not afford ¢7,000 (which is now ¢7) to send young Yunus to school. This did not, however, dissuade Yunus from nurturing hopes of attaining secular education. During the long makaranta recess he took up a job as a gardener at Abelenkpe, which enabled him to save some money. He spent part of his earnings to attend evening classes from Class 4 at the age 17 to complement the makaranta education. Prior to his adventure in secular education, Yunus could neither write nor read in English. His friends and colleagues mocked him for his peculiar ways of expressing himself in English. According to him “I used to admire my age mates in school uniform and wished I were in their shoes”. Nevertheless he excelled in his makaranta education and after 6 years of studies at the Institute of Islamic Studies in Nima he became an Islamic teacher (Mallam).

Convinced that his destiny lay in his hands, Yunus invested part of his savings into the business of selling books. “Whenever I closed from makaranta, I would carry my trading bag which contained a tape recorder, Islamic books, rosaries, and audio cassettes to the market to make a living. Wherever a group of people gathered, it was an opportunity for me to trade”, he notes. Yunus would start his trading activities from Rawlings Park in Accra, move to Tudu, Cowlane and Zongolane. He would sometimes offer his afternoon prayer at Salahe Market behind the Ghana Post Office and continue with trading to the Timber Market.

Within a year Yunus had raised some money to enable him enroll for English courses at Institute of Languages, Accra Workers College.  He would go to makaranta in the morning, go trading in the afternoon, and attend English classes in the evening. Often he was so tired during class hours he couldn’t fully concentrate and missed a lot of what was taught in class. As he trudged along, he gained sufficient proficiency in the use of the English language and mustered enough courage to register for the O’level exams. Whiles preparing for the Ordinary Level exams Yunus continued with his petty and itinerant trading to support himself. Like many Ghanaians he was also enticed by the promise of huge return on investment to save with Pyram Business Consultancies but lost all his savings when Pyram turned out to be Ponzi scheme. With all his savings gone, Yunus was in a dilemma: abandon school or fully concentrate on trading. It took him weeks to make up his mind.

Eventually, he decided to combine trading and the pursuit of education. He registered for, sat and passed the Ordinary and Advanced Level General Certificate Exams as a private candidate gaining admission to read a Diploma course at the University of Ghana. At this time, business had slowed down for Yunus and life was extremely difficult so he contemplated taking up an additional job as a watchman. Luck shone on him when through the intervention of a friend Rainbow Motors offered him a scholarship. His sister, Ayele Abdul Salam who was fully committed to his education also provided weekly foodstuffs for his upkeep on campus. With sheer determination and perseverance he completed his diploma programme at the University of Ghana.

Soon after Yunus enrolled for a degree programme at the same University supporting himself from money he made as a private tutor. With the support and encouragement of Prof. Elorm Dovlo of the Department of Religious Study, University of Ghana, he pursued masters and doctoral programmes at University of Ghana. Dr. Yunus Dumbe’s academic achievements did not end there. He secured a fellowship in the University of Cape Town South Africa to undertake comparative studies on Muslim movements in both South Africa and Ghana. In 2011 he won another fellowship from Sodertorn University in Sweden that enabled him to complete his pace-setting book titled “Islamic Revivalism in Ghana”.

Today Dr. Yunus Dumbe through thick and thin is a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His story is not only an example of personal triumph, commitment and sheer perseverance, it is also a story about the role of mentors and policy makers in supporting the educational aspirations of late starters.

Many countries take pride in being lands of equal opportunity, where everyone has a fair chance at success if they work hard. Since 1993 we have given ourselves a Constitution with lofty political, social, economic and cultural ideals. Chapter 6 of our Constitution on the Directive Principles of State Policy enjoins our country, among others, to afford equality of economic opportunity to all citizens and to provide educational facilities at all levels in all regions of Ghana, and to the greatest extent feasible make those facilities available to all citizens. These directive principles of state policy are to guide all citizens, Parliament, the President, the Judiciary, the Cabinet, political parties and all other bodies and persons in taking or implementing any policy decisions for the establishment of a just and free society.

Over the years our country has experienced improved social and economic growth, lifting the lives of many people from absolute and relative poverty. This improvement has been brought about in no small measure from improvements in access to education, hence in social and economic opportunity. The personal story of Dr. Yunus Dumbe bears testimony to this. However, it is also true that in most cases the fruits of economic growth have not been evenly or fairly distributed:  incomes for our small middle class have stagnated or reduced, and large segments of the poor have increasingly been left behind necessitating anti-poverty interventions by the Government of Ghana such as the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty program.

Social and economic inequality arising from lack of access to and poor quality of education from preschool to college has implications across many areas of social life. It affects the effectiveness of participation in the democratic process; it affects social and economic mobility, the well-being of families, the parental resources available to children, the chances of finding secure and satisfying work, the quality of health care and health outcomes. The wider the disparity between a society’s haves and have-nots the greater the inequality in the benefits enjoyed in society.

In this context, it is important for us as a country to know to what extent our schools and educational policies have provided equal opportunities for all citizens despite growing differences in family resources, school quality, and job prospects. Has the political system effectively transferred resources to the disadvantaged in society to improve their education outcomes? How well have our institutions performed in moderating educational inequality and providing something akin to equal opportunity for all Ghanaians as enjoined by our Constitution? What can we continue to do to provide children from disadvantaged backgrounds an equal chance in life? There are many Dr. Yunus Dumbes out there, and by knowing their stories of personal success, what policy interventions assisted those efforts at self-actualization, we will have a better understanding of what works to address the needs of late starters  and other vulnerable persons as we seek to create equality of opportunity for all Ghanaians.

We at Baraka Policy Institute seek to contribute effectively to national development by striving for the general well-being of people, especially the vulnerable in society through advocacy, promotion of social justice, policy analysis and actionable research on relevant areas of national development. We remain committed to supporting any programmes directed at this effort.

Dr. Abdul Baasit Aziz Bamba is a Lecturer at the University of Ghana and a Director of the Baraka Policy Institute