Assess existing curricula for mathematics — Prof Anku
The President of the Ghana Mathematics Society (GMS), Professor Sitsofe Anku, has called on the Ministry of Education to conduct an assessment of the existing curricula for mathematics from the basic school to the university level.
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He said such an assessment would enable the ministry to review the curricula, where necessary, to help make the teaching and learning of the subject more relevant to the practical needs of students and those of the country.
According to him, the current curricula placed more emphasises on theory than practice, which was "not helping us develop our country the way we should".
"Our problems are not theoretical but practical, hence the need to adopt hands-on teaching and learning of mathematics," he stated.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra Prof. Anku stated, "Mathematics permeates all spheres of national life and it is time we changed the curricula to become relevant to our daily needs."
The GMS president stated that the present curricula of mathematics did not allow students to practically apply the subject in everyday activities, adding that there was much redundancy and repetition in the mathematics curricula, making the teaching and learning of the subject longer and boring.
"Theoretical curricula are not helping us as a country because we are losing the benefits of mathematical application to our basic daily activities," he said, saying that "we must make mathematics useful to suit our needs".
"Our schools are only teaching students to write and pass examinations, which has become the standard. This should not be the case and the whole system should train students to apply what they have learnt to become productive," Prof. Anku said.
Teachers part of challenge
The President of GMS said as part of efforts to reverse the poor performance of students in mathematics, the association was endeavouring to make mathematics more relevant to real life.
"GMS believe that everything we do contains mathematical principles and methods that can ensure efficiency in what we do," he said.
He said the association had identified teachers of the subject as part of the problem, hence the need to collaborate with the Ministry of Education to organise training workshops for some selected teachers across the country to be trainers of other teachers.
"So far the first batch of 50 teachers from the Brong Ahafo, Upper West, Upper East and the Ashanti regions have been trained in Accra in August this year and similar training will be extended to teachers in other regions soon, as well as teachers from colleges of education," he said.
Prof. Anku added that GMS had also held camps for 1000 students to be equipped with fundamentals of mathematics since 2007, with 600 students benefiting from the programme this year alone.
He, therefore, urged students to avail themselves of such opportunities.
