Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum
Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has said the country does not need new policies for the education sector but rather the holistic implementation of the already existing policies.
Dr. Adutwum announced this at a one-day education stakeholders’ forum on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) held in Accra last Friday.
The event, organised by the National Teaching Council, brought together players in the education sector to assess STEM education in the country and generate discussions that would make Ghana a global competitor in STEM.
Dr. Adutwum stated that the country cannot wait any longer for the take off in the area of science, which is holding the key to the socio-economic transformation of many countries.
He mentioned virtual laboratories and simulations as some of the initiatives to be pursued in schools to ensure that science learning becomes easy.
Dr. Adutwum charged all stakeholders to redouble their effort at supporting the government to move swiftly and initiate innovative ways of teaching and learning of science at the basic level in particular.
The minister pledged the government’s readiness to provide the needed resources towards the teaching and learning of the sciences in the country, saying “it is true that it is not going to be easy moving into full actions as a nation due to the state of infrastructure in the various localities, but that does not also mean that we cannot do it, we must start from somewhere.”
“As a matter of fact, if Ghana is to catch up and be part of the 4th industrial revolution, then STEM is the way to go. We need to switch from the current 30 per cent science and 70 per cent humanities to 70 per cent science and 30 per cent humanities,” he said.
The minister said that for a start, the Junior High School which is the weakest link in the nation’s education is being revamped to strengthen the teaching and learning of sciences and other subjects.
He recounted how people in the rural schools are losing out on getting the opportunity to pursue science courses at higher levels of education due to the low grades they made at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The Registrar of the National Teaching Council, Dr. Christian Addai-Poku, pledged to continue partnering with all stakeholders in the education sector to put in place the right measures to promote the development of education in the country.
Various speakers pushed for the need to demystify the teaching and learning of science, particularly at the basic levels.
Some of the speakers who made presentations were Prof. Agyapong-Kodua, Vice-Chancellor of Pentecost University, Prof. Ernest Davies, Provost of College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast and Dr. Thomas Mensah, Chief Executive Officer, Silicon Valley of Ghana.
There was an exhibition of some robotics and other science-related local inventions and displays.