Ghana’s Education Minister Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has called on schools in Ghana and in other African countries to adopt what he calls an Assertive Curriculum.
The MP for Bosomtwe said this has become necessary because he has observed that pupils are taught in ways that do not allow them to think critically and ask questions.
He explained, “I go to schools upon schools and I speak with the students, when I finish speaking with them I will ask, do you have a question for me? And no hand goes up. A hand is yet to go up in all my encounters in Ghanaian classrooms.
“We have tamed the children, we just want them to write down what we tell them on the day of the exam and say, you are the best students the country has seen.” He added.
This situation, he noted, cannot guarantee the needed development in the 21st Century when others are thinking through innovative ideas to develop.
Dr Adutwum was speaking at the ‘Transforming Education’ Summit of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday 22nd September 22.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST – Ghana), Peter Partey Anti says although what the education minister has said about the kind of kids Ghana has in its classroom is true, the problem has to do with their teachers.
In an interview on TV3 and monitored by ATLFMNEWS Mr. Peter Anti said, “Teachers are those who are supposed to help students be assertive, to be outspoken, through the learning process. But the teachers themselves are victimized when they are assertive.”
To him, teachers are tamed whiles training in colleges as such they give that training to pupils.
He, therefore, recommends having a look at the training of teachers in the country if the issue of assertiveness among pupils is to be addressed.
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Source: Rosemond Asmah/ATLFMNEWS
