Stop the use of pamphlets as textbooks — Dr Gatsi

The use of pamphlets as substitutes for textbooks by some teachers in the junior high schools has been identified as one major reason for the low performance of students in recent times.

An observation made by the John Gatsi Foundation indicated that some teachers depended too much on pamphlets which only contained questions and answers as a main tool for teaching certain courses, thus, abandoning the prescribed textbooks for the subjects.

The Founder of the foundation and a senior lecturer of the University of Cape Coast School Of Business, Dr John Gatsi, said, “The danger the nation faces in its education sector is that most teachers are now teaching questions and answers and not laying firm foundation for the students.”

At the silver jubilee celebration of the Mawuli School Complex at Dzodze as the guest of honour last Saturday, the lecturer said the bad habit was discovered during a workshop organised by the foundation for some teachers in the Ketu South District.

Common practice

Dr Gatsi stated that the practice was common among teachers of the core subjects such as English, Mathematics and Science, which are pillars in any career be it science, engineering, policy making, finance or economics.

“Some of the teachers only master the questions and answers from these pamphlets and teach the students what they have learnt,” he pointed out.

He said those teachers failed to teach the students the foundation of the subjects, so when questions were structured based on the textbook, students normally found it difficult because they were not taught that way.

The Ghana Education Service (GES), he said, should intensify monitoring and supervision in the various schools because “this is a contributory factor to the low performance of students, and must be checked”.

He advised teachers to use the original textbooks to teach students and use the pamphlets as supplementary tools because “the main textbook given by the GES is what examiners use”.

Dealing with problems

Dr Gatsi said education was the major tool to transform the fortunes of a country and, therefore, must be taken seriously.

The country, he said, needed a focused strategy to deal with the complex problems militating against quality education.

“We have seen improvement in educational infrastructure, and it is now time for effective community and individual involvement to rekindle the interest of children in learning to achieve results,” he said.

The administrator of the school, Mr Senaya Solace, said the quality delivery and discipline in the school enabled it to chalk up a 100 per cent pass in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

The Regional Deputy Director in charge of monitoring and supervision, Mr Foster Martin Kwami Anumah, advised schools to be oriented towards practical agriculture study because it was one of the lucrative ventures in the country and the world at large.