By Laudia Sawer,
Tema, Jan. 9, GNA – Mrs. Ingrid Ansah, the Co-Founder of the Data Link Institute and Technology, has bemoaned the high rate of rote learning among students, saying it has become a worrying issue in schools.
Rote learning, popularly known in Ghana as “chew and pour,” is a type of learning that involves memorising contents through repetition, which is believed to be easy and faster to recall especially during examinations.
She said rote learning, and lecturers asking students to buy, read, and strictly answer examination questions based on pamphlets and notes they have authored and sold have led to students graduating without the requisite skills to fit into the field of their studies.
Mrs. Ansah said this during a stakeholder engagement organised by the Ghana News Agency, Tema Regional Office, on the topic, “Transformation of the media landscape from the analogue age to the digital age; the role of training institutions.”
“So now we have people coming out with first-class honours, but their performance is worse than those with third-class honours,” she said. She said this worrying trend cuts across all fields of training as employers continue to complain about the kind of human resources available for them to work with from tertiary institutions. Mrs. Ansah said the practice has put unnecessary burden and too much work on institutions, as they must use months to retrain the graduates practically in their field of study, in addition to the company’s work culture. “This is a cry from all over the companies; we have to retrain them in their field of studies; too much work is being given to employers, and this must stop,” she said. She said, “practical training is totally missing in the training institutions, and this is evident in the workplace.”
She suggested that to cure this wrong, professionals from the various fields must be given the opportunity to lecture alongside their work to provide the needed practical training for students while in school.
Dr. Ernest Ansah, Founder of Data Link Institute and Technology said, the demand for graduates with immediate impact was increasing in today’s competitive economy.
He said the school was prepared to meet that demands, thanks to the institution’s vast curriculum and concentration on real-world applications, which have enabled them to flourish.
Dr. Ansah, who is the founder of the Centre for Business and Media Studies’ cited numerous obstacles, including funding, poor facilities, and the inability to recruit and maintain highly experienced academics and personnel.
He said poor research output, logistical assistance, and low student enrolment were some of the issues facing the country’s educational institutions.
Mr. Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, appealed to professional training institutions to collaborate with the corporate world not only for industrial attachment for trainees but also to create a platform for specific professionals to interact with students during their course of study.
Mr. Ameyibor said there was the urgent need for the merger of theoretical training and practical work to prepare students well to enter the job market.
GNA
FA/E