Maths and science teaching, learning aids vital – Dr Gatsi

An Economist and a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Dr John Gatsi, has called for continuous investment in relevant teaching and learning aids to enhance easy understanding of Mathematics, Science and information communication technology (ICT) of children their formative stages.

He said children needed to be grounded in these subjects and the local languages taught, adding that the conscious effort of government and other stakeholders was needed to achieve that.

Speaking at the 20th anniversary celebration of Little Saints School in Accra, held on the theme,” Tool for transforming our communities and nation at Large, Dr Gatsi said average students could pass in those subjects if the appropriate investment was made in the methodologies of teaching.

He urged private schools owners, the government, education policy makers and other stakeholders, to take a second look at the low level of investment in these subject areas and scale up the development of human resource needed for radical reforms.

“These subjects are key to shaping future professions and careers of our children. It is about time the nation put premium on investment in Science, Mathematics and ICT education including local languages at the basic level,” he said.

Dr Gatsi deplored the current situation in which some teachers with limited training in these subjects teach the subjects especially in the rural and deprived areas, saying “this trend must change to protect the future career aspiration of our children.”

The Economist said enriching and ensuring sustainability of Ghana’s human resource base was difficult without basic and sound understanding of mathematics, science and ICT.

Dr Gatsi said: “With good foundation in maths and science, our children would have it easy to become economists, accountants, biologists, medical doctors, engineers, planners, marketers and policy makers even in their own field of endeavors as entrepreneurs.

“It is equally important to emphasize that we as a nation could not build entrepreneurial society when people do not have the critical skills needed to think through problems and reduce them to basic statistics to address policy reforms.”

He urged parents to believe in their children and any underprivileged child in their communities and offer the needed support for their education in order to unearth the greater prospects ahead of them and the nation as whole.

Strategic plan
Dr Gatsi said as the Little Saints School  celebrates her 20th anniversary with pride because of many achievements and more importantly, her fair contribution to developing the future of her past students and the nation at large, it requires a strategy going forward.
“To remain the centre where future prospects and discipline needed for nation building is developed, the school needs clear strategic plan for the next twenty years that maps out effective investment and stipulation of achievable standards for teachers and pupils,” he said