‘Gov’t committed to promoting learning of maths’
The Ministry of Education says it is determined to promote the learning of Mathematics and ensure that students are able to apply the principles and concepts in solving real life problems.
The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, who stated this added that the ministry was determined to work to demystify Mathematics and make Ghana a mathematics-friendly nation.
He was speaking at the 12th congregation of the OLA College of Education in Cape Coast during the weekend, where a total of 384 teachers made up of 120 Early Childhood, 220 General Basic and 45 Science and Mathematics options graduated.
Critical thinkers
Dr Prempeh said the ministry would work to ensure that learners were taught in ways that allowed them to be creative and critical thinkers to solve problems and move away from just memorising concepts and passing examinations.
He said memorisation of concepts without understanding them, which was the “chew, pour, pass and forget” was a disaster and would not allow the students to be competitive in the global economy in the 21st century.
Dr Prempeh noted that the educational reforms were to ensure that the nation’s products were competitive in the global market.
He said the new four-year Bachelor of Education curricula introduced since October 2018, was expected to produce a new generation of teachers who would be equipped with the competencies of modern digital literacy teachers.
Again, he said, as part of the new curricula, the ministry would provide the opportunity for teacher specialisation in the early childhood, primary and junior high school.
Teacher education reforms
Dr Prempeh said the ministry had taken several steps to create a teacher education system that produced the kind of teachers who would be able to improve the learning outcomes in the country, saying he believed that a strong regulatory framework had been created through the teacher education policy reform agenda.
He said all those were to ensure that anybody with a certificate of teaching from Ghana would be recognised worldwide and implored the graduands to be exemplary, creative, honest and eager to learn more.
“To be a good teacher means to be a good leaner, so make room to tap into other people’s knowledge and skills.”
He pledged to work to ensure that the GETFund supported the completion of three major projects that had stalled since 2006-a science laboratory, a library and lecture halls.
Abreast of time
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, advised the graduands to keep up with technology and to help their students to do same.
He also urged them to be confident teachers and role models to inspire their students to think critically to solve problems.
The Principal of the college, Rev. Sister Elizabeth Amoako-Arhen, said the college had produced teachers over the years to support the development of education.
