Show more interest in teaching of Science, Mathematics; Female teacher trainees told
A lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Centre for Settlements Studies, Dr Rudith King, has called on female teacher trainees to show more interest in the teaching of Science and Mathematics to help address the needs of children, particularly in learning those subjects.
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She also stressed the need for the training of more female teachers, since, according to her, they usually understand the learning needs of children and as a result could be of great influence in the teaching of those two subjects right from the tender age.
“Ghana needs more female teachers than ever before to articulate the learning needs of children and put them on the right paths to drive the development agenda,” she said.
Dr King was speaking at the 9th graduation ceremony of the St Teresa’s College of Education at Hohoe in the Volta Region.
Background
St Teresa’s College of Education, an all-female institution, was established in November 1961 with 35 pioneer students drawn from all the then nine regions of Ghana. The college was initially opened as a two-year certificate ‘B’ institution, known as the Women’s Training College (WOTRACO).
The name was changed to St Teresa’s College in 1964 when the institution was placed under the patronage of St Teresa of the Child Jesus and it adopted the motto, “Live the truth in charity.”
The aim of the founding fathers: Rt Rev. Anthony Konings, Ms Catherine Bagley, an Australian Grail Missionary; Ms Eleanor Staunton, Rev. Fr John Beckers, Rev. Fr Theo Manshanden (SMA) and Rev. Fr Theodore Brockhoff (SMA) was to establish in the diocese a Catholic teacher training college for women who would give sound moral, spiritual and professional education in the true Catholic tradition.
Disparities
Dr King indicated that the number of female teachers in the various institutions was reducing. She pointed out that “if you take the KNUST, for instance, of the 10 lecturers teaching Food Science and Technology, only three are females.”
She said there had been disparities over the years as far as the promotion of issues of women were concerned, adding that it called for women to take up the challenge to help reverse the trend.
She also noted that “out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 15 directly affect women, and numerous examples show how the SDGs can be more effectively achieved by getting more women into Science as most of the goals in the SDGs, for example, required science-related interventions, and affect women more than men”.
She also advised the graduands to take a keen interest in Science and Mathematics to make teaching easier.
Performance
Two hundred and five students graduated, with 47 obtaining Second Class Upper; 113 Second Class Lower; 41, Third Class, and the remaining five having passes.
The Overall Best Student award was picked by Ms Confidence Emefa Denku.
In her address, the Principal of the school, Mrs Angelina Kutin Tandoh, praised the graduates for performing creditably.
That notwithstanding, she advised them to put in a lot of efforts at their duty stations.