Too many cognitive courses in educational system – Prof. Gyampo
The Director of the Centre for European Studies of the University of Ghana, Professor Ransford Gyampo, has observed that there are too many cognitive courses and subjects in the educational system required to be taught in a short period of time.
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He said instead of teaching a few core subjects with dearth, “we tend to handle many areas in a shallow manner”.
“Our curricular tends to be overloaded with too many issues and subjects that train children mostly in acquiring cognitive knowledge.
“There are too many cognitive courses and subjects required to be taught within a short period of time,” he added.
Occasion
Prof. Gyampo said this last Saturday when he spoke on the topic “Education, Excellence and Nation Building” at the 10th graduation and speech and prize-giving day of the Startrite Montessori School at New Bortiano, a suburb of Accra.
The event, which was also used to launch the 10th anniversary celebrations of the school, saw pupils and students treating parents and invited guests to some cultural and other performances.
Prof. Gyampo said, for instance, that it was not just enough to teach people mathematics and that there was the need to teach them the rudiments of peaceful collaboration, tolerance, respect, hard work, teamwork, cohesion, logic, critical thinking outside the box and analytical skills.
Blend of knowledge
“There should be a blend of ‘efie nyansa’ and school ‘nyansa’ (domestic and academic knowledge) as a way of providing excellent education to children and positioning them strategically to contribute their quota towards nation building,” he pointed out.
For education to produce excellence and contribute to nation building, he said, its policy framework and political environment must be stable, saying that successive political leaders either military or civilian often suspended or tweaked existing educational policies in line with their own agenda.
Excellence
Again, he said for education to produce excellence in nation building, it must inculcate in the individual knowledge, skills, dexterity, character and desirable values that would foster national development and self-actualisation, and that “this is the only means through which our much-needed manpower/human resource required for national development can be developed”.
Moreover, he said, there seems to be a wide gap between academia and industry requirement, therefore, efforts must be made to provide other vocational and technical training that would meet industrial requirements half way.
Executive Chairman
The Executive Chairman of the school, Prof. Peter Quartey, stated that 35 students who represented the fifth batch of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates from the school were adequately prepared to bring out their best.
