The Science Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) with support from Omega Compu Systems Engineering Ghana Limited has held a two-day workshop for sixty eight (68) science teachers and lab technicians drawn from seventeen (17) Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the Central and Western Regions.
The training, hinged on how to use modern science laboratory equipment and chemicals supplied by the Ghana Education Service, formed part of government’s broader agenda to prioritize Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Senior High Schools in the country.
The second out of five training sessions being organized by the unit across the country was to build the capacity of the participants in practical-based teaching.
In her address, the Central Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Martha Owusu Agyemang, was optimistic the training will help improve practical science lessons in Senior High Schools and cause students to excel in the subject.
According to her, the low performance in science in schools has been largely due to practical lessons being rarely organized in most schools.
“Thus, I believe the training will help you change the method of teaching to bring significant improvement in your teaching,” she said while addressing participants.
She also indicated that constant monitoring will be done in the schools benefitting from the workshop by her outfit in collaboration with the District Education Directorate and the STEM coordinators to ascertain how the teachers and lab technicians are applying the knowledge they have acquired from the training.
Currently, about 276 science teachers and lab technicians from 69 schools in the Greater Accra, Eastern, and Volta Regions as well as the Central and Western Regions have profited from the exercise, which is targeting to train 690 participants across the country by March 17 this year.
Speaking to ATLFMNEWS on the sidelines of the workshop, the Director of Science Education at GES, Mrs. Olivia Serwaa Opare revealed that 65 teachers in the Bono zone, 124 in the Northern Zone, and 228 in the Ashanti zone will also undergo the training subsequently.
The participants after the training are entreated to train their colleagues in their respective schools, as well as those from other Senior High Schools and Junior High Schools within their zones.
On his part, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba who doubles as the Chair of Teacher Education in Sub Saharan Africa, Prof. Jophus Anamoah Mensah urged government to continue to stem its efforts at prioritizing and improving STEM education in SHSs in the country as its benefits cannot be underrated.
He noted that even as students are being motivated to manufacture technological machines and equipment while applying science in other areas, students must be adequately prepared with enough science equipment at their disposal to make the science subject practical oriented.
Prof. Anamoah Mensah added, “When you have the foundation laid down before these students go to the university, the university is able to take them through a system that helps the STEM education to result in industrialization. If we continue in this line for the next 20 years, we will see a transformed Ghana which is able to export into other countries not only raw materials but something we have added value to.”
He maintained, “For us to fully benefit from the STEM education, the country must have quality teachers who have mastery over science, technology, and innovation and are able to undertake projects that can send students to the Science Olympiad, which is an international non-profit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers”.
The former Vice-Chancellor of UEW also urged that interdisciplinary be promoted in science education in the country where the teachers who teach the various aspects of science can learn from each other. This, he said, is the foundation of STEM education.
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Source: Rosemond Asmah & Miriam Bosomprah/ATLFMNEWS
