Ghana engages science, maths experts

As part of efforts to promote the teaching of science and mathematics in the country, the Ministry of Education has engaged experts in these areas of academic studies to train teachers at all levels on teaching methodology, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education (Tertiary), has said.

In addition to the training of teachers, Mr Ablakwa said science resource centres were also being equipped as part of measures to do away with the misconception that those subjects were meant for extraordinary students.

“It is important to also stress that there are other interventions going on. We have engaged experts in mathematics and science who are retraining our teachers at all levels on the teaching methodology,” he said.

He made these pronouncements at a meeting of regional executive members of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) in Accra on Wednesday.

Last year, Ghana was ranked last among 76 countries across the world in the biggest ever global school rankings on mathematics and science.

Other countries in the lowest ranks were Oman, Morocco, Honduras, and South Africa, which were ranked 72, 73, 74, and 75, respectively.

Singapore topped the table, followed by Hong Kong, with all other African countries cited in the report at the bottom.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the comparisons – based on test scores in 76 countries – show the link between education and economic growth.

"This is the first time we have a truly global scale of the quality of education," said the OECD's education director, Andreas Schleicher.

"The idea is to give more countries, rich and poor, access to comparing themselves against the world's education leaders, to discover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and to see what the long-term economic gains from improved quality in schooling could be for them."

Mr Ablakwa also revealed at the meeting that the Ministry of Finance had given the Ministry of Education (MoE) clearance to employ 2,500 teachers to plug a deficit of mathematics and science teachers in pre-tertiary institutions.

He said the MoE had already shortlisted 6,000 applicants in its initial processes. They would be made to write an examination on May 21, 2016 to reduce the number before being deployed to schools across the country for the next academic year.

The meeting, which brought together 60 regional executive members of NASPA across the country, was organised by the management of the National Service Scheme (NSS) to discuss issues relating to the welfare of the service personnel and how to overcome some of the challenges they faced in their duties.