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Mr Kojo Yankah
Mr Kojo Yankah

More institutions needed to train teachers in Science and Technology

The Founder of the African University College of Communications (AUCC), Mr Kojo Yankah, has underscored the need to establish more institutions to train teachers in Science and Technology to equip students to contribute to national development.

According to him, the nation’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, established the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to train more students and teachers in Science and Technology, but when he was overthrown, his vision was distorted, so “we are in a scientific age without trained teachers; we have lost it”.

For instance, he said if UCC produced 500 teachers in Science and Technology every year, this country would have developed by now because it was the only way to development. Therefore, he added, there should be a focus on science and technology education.

Focus on Science and Technology

In an interview with the Daily Graphic last Tuesday, Mr Yankah said, “Some have computers in their schools but no teachers, so our science mentality is so low and we cannot develop as a country without science and technology.”

He mentioned that for instance, Germany used technicians to always fix their problems because they were the people the country needed, not the engineers in “suit and tie”.

Stating the importance of incentives for students in the field of Science and Technology, Mr Yankah pointed out that there were students in senior high schools who were very good in Mathematics and Science but since there was no form of encouragement for them, they ended up joining the General Arts students after their search for science avenues proved futile.

“Dr Nkrumah had Ghana and Africa at heart and he encouraged people to be responsible; therefore, leaders of the country should encourage the youth and individuals to take responsibility and let them understand that they can do it,” he advised.

Paradigm shift

Mr Yankah indicated that the country needed a paradigm shift, where Ghanaians needed to shift to Science and Technology in order to solve their own problems, because Science students had open minds and could do a lot of research to find solutions to the problems in the country.

Proposing some solutions to the advancement of Science and Technology, he noted that scientists and scientific institutions should promote multidisciplinary approaches to research, encourage cooperation between the social and natural sciences, draw lessons from the humanities, local knowledge systems and aboriginal wisdom.

“Leaders should encourage a holistic approach to problem solving that takes into account a realistic range of socio-economic conditions and effects, as well as multiple time and space scales where appropriate; and carefully explain the implications and inherent limitations of their research findings to the public,” he said.

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