Friday, 29 March

Education sector seeing some reforms – Minister

Education
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Education Minister

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has explained that the country's educational sector is seeing some reforms which will later shape how people are educated in the country.

The sector minister in a speech read on his behalf by the Director for Pre-Tertiary Education said due to global changes, Ghana's education sector is undergoing some reforms, such as the revamping of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) at all levels.

He explained the introduction of pre-engineering and robotics at the Senior High Schools is also part of the reforms.

He mentioned some of the reforms as the upgrading of the Colleges of Education from diploma-awarding institutions to degree-awarding institutions, and the establishment of new Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) institutions across the country. 

He noted, all these are geared towards creating an enabling environment and courses that would make graduates gain the all-round skills and knowledge to make them competitive where ever they travel across the globe.

Dr Adutwum said these at the 70th anniversary, speech and prize-giving day celebration of Apam Senior High School in the Central Region.

For his part, the Chief Justice (rtd), Justice Kwesi Anim Yeboah, reminded students that it is only by a dent of hard work, perseverance and dedication that one can succeed. 

"Drug abuse and laziness are not classmates to success, neither, do chronic indiscipline and academic excellence are friends," he stressed. 

Speaking on the theme: ‘70 Years of Quality Education: Sustaining our Gains in The New Technological World’, he called on students to take advantage of the present technological age to make maximum use of the learning environment in Senior High Schools.

He added that it will be difficult to redeem such a golden opportunity when it is lost. 

According to him, many bright and promising students have aborted their dreams or condemned their own lives to destitution or waywardness because they were not serious with their books, or failed the test of discipline.

The retired Chief Justice, who is also an old boy, prayed to God that the current rotten character and abysmal failure will not befall students of Great APASS.

Explaining how a school qualifies to be a category 'A' school, the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah, in a speech read for him, said the performance of a school which includes behaviour and the perception of the community about the school plays a major role in its categorisation.

He, therefore, called on the alumni to promote the school wherever they were, to encourage students to over-subscribe to increase Great APASS’s chances of making it to the A category.

The Board Chairman of the School's Governing Board, Nana Obokomatta IX, Chief of Gomoa Dasum, thanked the President, Road Minister and Chief Justice for asphalting all the roads in the campus which has been in a deplorable state for well over 20 years.

He further said thanks for the construction of an ultramodern girls' dormitory, despite the current economic conditions in the country.

The Headmistress of Apam Secondary High School, Mrs Comfort Essah Amoaful, appealed to the government to provide the school with additional teachers' accommodation to help teachers stay on campus to instil discipline in students, which, according to her, is a core value for academic excellence.

"The existing bungalows are in a very sorry state, hence the need for some renovations to avoid possible disaster," she stressed.

Mrs Amoaful requested the construction of a 200-seater capacity staff common room, a modern visual art studio, accessories for the school's Regimental Band, toilet facilities, tables and chairs to enhance teaching and learning.

Source: Classfmonline.com/cecil Mensah