Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa addressing the media
THE GHANA Education Service (GES) has launched a new curriculum for primary schools in the country.
The new curriculum is to help address deficiencies in the educational system and prepare Ghanaian students to compete favorably with their global counterparts.
Director General of GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, speaking at the launch on Thursday in Accra, says the new curriculum would take effect from the 2019/2020 academic year.
According to him, the GES has identified some deficiencies in the current curriculum.
Giving features of the new curriculum, he said, at the Kindergarten (KG) level, the number of learning areas would be reduced from seven to four.
The four areas, he said, were integrated themes including literacy, numeracy, our world, our people, and creative arts.
He noted that at the lower and upper primary, the number of subjects remains the same.
The Director General added that “however, there will be fewer concepts and more in-depth treatment of concept in each subject.”
Furthermore, he disclosed that “there is greater emphasis on literacy and numeracy.”
Again, as part of features of the new curriculum, the Director General announced that “there will be national assessments at P2, P4, P6 to ensure that children’s performance is being tracked.”
He noted that “RME will be a standalone subject. PE will be a standalone subject and will be taught practically. French will be introduced at Upper Primary.”
Nationwide Implementation
According to the Director General, GES would ensure the training of a core of 150 master trainers nationwide on the new curriculum.
The master trainers, he said, “will in turn train 3,900 district and regional trainers.”
He announced that “about 152,000 KG and primary school teachers will be trained across the country by the master, regional and district trainers.”
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa observed that “there will be continuous professional development through the setting up of learning communities for teachers to enable them share ideas and experiences.”
BY Melvin Tarlue