By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, June 21, GNA – Professor Kwame Osei Kwarteng, the Board Chairman of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) says the new Senior High and Technical Schools (SHTS) curriculum will reverse the “chew, pour, pass” syndrome among students.
Rather, he said the NaCCA was developing a more comprehensive curriculum that prioritised problem solving and innovations, and therefore, called for stakeholders’ input.
Prof. Kwarteng, also the Provost, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Cape Coast, said changing trends in the world, dynamics and the Fourth Revolution necessitated the need for the development of the curriculum.
“We can’t continue to do things the old ways that we were doing it. Our old objective-based curriculum appears to be more examination oriented, and students’ complete school and they become unemployed,” Prof Kwarteng stated at a day’s stakeholders’ engagement in Sunyani.
The NaCCA organised the engagement to collect stakeholders’ inputs on the development of a-three-year SHTS curriculum, attended by civil society organisations and actors, Heads of Departments and Agencies, traditional authorities, religious bodies, industry players in various sectors and students.
“Now it’s like students’ complete school and they are not flexible and can’t think critically because they chew, pour, pass and go their way,” Prof Kwarteng stated.
The curriculum development is in line with the National Pre-Tertiary Education Curriculum Framework and the National Teachers Standards as part of the Ministry of Education set of reforms in secondary education.
As the world turned into a global village, Prof Kwarteng emphasised the need for the nation to also reform its education sector, prioritising and acquiring 21st century skills of problem solving to empower students to innovate.
He said innovation, creativity and problem-solving curriculum would greatly facilitate job creation and reduce graduate unemployment.
Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister noted inputs to the curriculum would equip students with the required skills to enable them to contribute significantly to nation-building and socio-economic development.
She urged the stakeholders to critically evaluate and improve the curriculum, saying it would make the youth have creative minds and employable skills.
The Regional Minister noted the place of education as an important component in the socio-economic development of this country could not be undervalued, saying it was against that background the government rolled out the free Senior High School programme, the Ghana National Digital Literacy Project, Model Science Technology Engineering Art and Mathematics (STEAM) school programme, and Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).
That is aimed at reforming the educational sector to contribute significantly towards the developmental agenda of the country, she explained, indicating that these programmes and policies going on in the education sector would “stand firm when
the foundation which is the curriculum is strong”. Mr Reginald Quartey, the Acting Director, NaCCA said the council had made a headway for the curriculum in the next academic year in September.
He said key features of the curriculum focused more on Ghanaian values and would further enable learners to have multiple and flexible ways of furthering their education at the University level.
GNA