Rote learning to end — Education Minister

Ghana is on the verge of ending the era where students spend years in school only to prepare for examinations instead of learning to understand in order to apply their knowledge in their field of work.

This is a result of the huge investments made over the last seven years by the government and its development partners to build and upgrade science and computer laboratories to support many new and existing schools across the country to help promote practical teaching and learning.

For instance, the government through the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation under the e-Transform Project funded by the World Bank is building about 350 laboratories in some selected high schools across the country.

It has also secured funding from an international service provider, Televic, to build another 300 computer laboratories for high schools.

Practical approach

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, who made this known at the just-ended Annual New Year School and Conference in Accra last Wednesday, said the investment made was gradually changing the phase of education where people learnt just to pass examinations to a more practical approach for which students offered solutions to address recent challenges.

He explained that the world was moving into an era where technological proficiency was so critical and for that reason the government was making efforts to keep up with time.

“So, we have a number of laboratories that are being built through the Ministry of Communications with support from other international partners.

“Within the past seven years some of the senior high schools (SHSs), such as Ahantaman Girls SHS, Aburi Girls SHS, Wesley Girls’ High School, Kumasi Anglican SHS, St Louis SHS and Accra High School, have benefited from laboratories, which aided teaching and learning,” he said.

STEM centre

The minister stated that Accra High School, for instance, had benefited from a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) centre.

He said due to this, students, mostly girls, were now taking programmes in engineering science instead of home economics, which used to be the preferred option in the past.

He said the centre was also serving students in the neighbourhood who were mostly at the basic stage.

Also, Dr Adutwum noted that the government through the Ministry of Communications with support from the World Bank was developing an online library initiative dubbed Ghana Knowledge Bank (GKB).

Future investment

For her part, the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) had taken steps to equip several basic schools with information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and equipment.

She said the GIFEC had also successfully established coding clubs in the basic schools to promote ICT-driven solutions to meet the country’s challenges.

She said the government had introduced the Girls in ICT programme, which targeted young ladies from ages nine to 16 across the country.