Accra, Aug. 03, GNA – The Deputy Minister of Education, Rev. John Ntim Forjour, says the government will always put in place measures to ensure that education remains the pivot for economic transformation.
He explained that to achieve this feat, the government would continue to provide the required support to the education sector to promote teaching and learning at all levels of education in the country.
Rev. Forjour, the Member of Parliament for the Assin South Constituency in the Central region, announced this during a two-day tour of some communities in his Constituency.
The tour which was aimed at interacting and explaining government policies to the people, took the MP and his entourage to communities such as Kruwa, Homaho, Adiembra, Assin Manso, Amoabin and Assin Asamankese.
“Children are the future of the country, and nothing should hinder them from achieving their dreams. There are, among them, those with exceptional talents and skills, gifted and talented kids and they need to be guided and mentored appropriately, ” the Deputy Minister said.
The Deputy Minister stated that the government was committed to ensuring the reading and writing proficiency of every school-going Ghanaian child by the age of ten years.
He mentioned that to this end, the government would continue to create a conducive learning environment as well as the provision of the necessary interventions to guarantee expected outcomes.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour said one of such interventions being spearheaded by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, was the introduction of the National Standardized Test (NST).
This, he explained, would take place in November this year and was aimed at assessing the state of learning at that level of education so that the relevant remedial measures could be put in place.
The Deputy Minister indicated that the NST was not only seeking to improve learning outcomes but would also reduce learning poverty across the country.
The Deputy Minister stated that all primary four students in Ghana would be the first batch to sit for this test, adding that it would also give the government the opportunity to assess the challenges inherent and undertake the remedial actions when they get to class five.
He appealed to the Chiefs, parents, guardians, and the general public to give the government their full backing to implement solid policies and programmes for the betterment of the country.
Rev Ntim Forjour said the delivery of quality education at the pre-tertiary level was key to successful tertiary education.
To improve the quality of education at this level, the government had committed itself to reform the curriculum at the pre-tertiary level, to focus on the 4Rs, namely, Writing, Arithmetic, Reading and Creative Arts, he said.
This according to the Deputy Minister would prepare students to face the 21st-century job requirements.
He appealed to various stakeholders in the development of education in the country to complement government effort at providing the right training to all Ghanaian youth irrespective of location, ethnic background, political affiliation and religion.
GNA