Students at the Speech and Prize-giving day
Students at the Speech and Prize-giving day

‘Redesign educational curriculum’

The Executive Director of the Marshallan Relief and Development Service (MAREDES), Mr Derx Baffour, has urged policymakers in the education sector to redesign the curriculum of educational institutions to cater for the holistic human resource development needs of the country.

At the sixth Speech and Prize-giving Day of the St Margaret Mary Secondary Technical School in Accra last Saturday, Mr Baffour said the current curriculum only focused on grammar and failed to cater for the total development of the individual.

“We need an education system that will blend knowledge, , and character formation of the students such that when they eventually occupy responsible positions, they will be able to proffer proper solutions to national challenges. The current system does not reflect the needs of the society and the dynamic world, and need to be overhauled,” he added.

He spoke on the theme: ‘Holistic Formation of the Youth: the Role of Stakeholders.’

 

The occasion

Forty-two students and teaching and non-teaching staff members who distinguished themselves in their studies and duties were presented with mementos, cash amounts and assorted materials.

 

Corruption and politicisation of education 

Touching on the drawbacks to education outcomes, Mr Baffour observed that corrupt practices within the fold of the managers of educational institutions derailed educational outputs, and added that efforts must be made to bring the perpetrators of such acts to book.

“There is this nauseating tendency that has crept into our second cycle institutions where parents have to pay huge amounts of money for their children to be admitted. The management of some schools have devised means of taking money illegally from students, thereby making education a scarce commodity,” he added.

He condemned what he said was the over politicisation of education, and said the situation whereby politicians kept changing the duration and major policies of second cycle institutions for political capital ought to be stopped in the interest of the country.

 

Way forward

Mr Baffour further asked for monitoring and supervision to be strengthened by education authorities to check teacher absenteeism and attendance by students.

He asked for enhanced partnership between school management and other stakeholders to promote teaching and learning.

“The government, parents, teachers, faith-based organisations (FBOs) as well as students, need to play their roles in a collaborative manner to promote education,” he added.

 

Challenges of the school

The Headmistress of the school, Mrs Grace Mansa Eshun, said the major challenge confronting the school was inadequate accommodation for the staff and students.

She appealed to the past students and the parent -teacher association (PTA) to support the school at all times, and added that budgetary allocation from the government was insufficient to provide the required infrastructure.

 

Discipline

A member of the school's governing board, Rev. Father Patrick K. Ofori (SVD), called on the authority of the school to instil discipline in the students, saying virtues such as time consciousness, punctuality, self-reliance were key to success in life. He asked the students to stay away from bad companies that could corrupt their attitude.

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