College of Art and Built Environment

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Browsing College of Art and Built Environment by Author "Amoako – Ohene, Kwasi"

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    Museum education in Ghana
    (KNUST, 2020-01) Amoako – Ohene, Kwasi
    ABSTRACT Since 1957, Ghana has establish several museums under the Museums and Monument Board and these museums are required to play social, educational and economic development of a nation. However, it is distressing to note that with the highly endowed museum assets of Ghana, such as the Cape Coast Castle Museum, Ghana National Museum, Fort Appolonia Museum of Nzema History and Culture, the Elmina Castle Museum, Ho Museum, Bolga Museum, Wa Museum, Museum of Science and Technology, and The Head of State Museum both in Accra, the nation ought to be receiving more and contributing to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Product. Significantly, the museums are not doing well in the areas of satisfactory visitor experience and education. There appear to be sketchy ideas and a no concretized framework to guide museum education in Ghana. In this view, this study sought to study the state of the museums under the Ghana Museum and Monument Board and also assess visitors experience and education and finally develop a framework that would enhance a better museum education in Ghana. Employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches, the study used a triangulation of Observations, Interviewed and Questionnaire to assemble data from the field. Extensive visits to Smithsonian Museums in Washington DC in the United States and particularly Smithsonian Museum of African Art, as well as Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio also in the US and studies on Kenya Museums and British Museum were made to understand their models and frameworks. The Ghana Museum and Monuments Board were involved in Focus Group Discussion on the phenomenon. These study unveiled the state of the museums which led to the design of a framework for GMMB. The state of the facility and collections even though they harbour the culture and identity of the Ghanaian societies, most of them are in deplorable state. This calls for much attention from the museum management and government to come out with a strategic plan to salvage an asset of great importance to the development of the nation. On the satisfaction of museum audience experience the study unveiled that it is undeniably unsatisfactory. This therefore resulted in the development of an educational framework which is hinged on five main pillars of educational strategy. It is however recommended that the Ghana Museum and Monument Board adopts the framework to enhance its educational activities.