Kwadwo N. Poku
THE INSTITUTE for Energy Policies and Research (INSTEPR) has called on the government to address teething problems at the various public basic schools before it goes ahead to implement the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education initiative.
A statement issued by INSTEPR at the weekend signed by its Executive Director, Kwadwo N. Poku, said the 2021 data sheet by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Ghana, through the MISC-Education Analysis for Global Learning and Equity initiative, pointed to a “very disturbing” trend.
“For Grade 3 (8-9 years), Reading skills is 7% and Numeracy skills is 8% for children attending government schools. Simple English, only 7% of all children between age 8 and 9 attending government schools in Ghana can read. This reduces to 4% for Grade 2,” it said.
It continued that the data sheet also highlights the disparity between education in rural and urban Ghana, noting, “In recent months, we have seen a new government initiative called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education) and new STEM schools to be built.”
“INSTEPR will advise the government to put this STEM project on hold and address the fundamental problems with existing basic schools in the country, and provide textbooks for all pupils. Instead of STEM, the government should put more resources into developing early childhood education,” the statement indicated.
The civil society group said research in multiple countries had shown that 95% of children in early education (between 3 and 4 years) progress as expected for their age in learning and areas of physical and social emotional development.
It asserted that it had to take donor agencies like USAID to support the government’s effort to provide reading materials for early education because “the USA has seen the benefit of early childhood education.”
Also, it noted, “As a country, we cannot continue ignoring basic education and most importantly neglecting basic school infrastructure at the rural level.”
“Free education is a wonderful policy and we Ghanaians are blessed to have it, but what is the quality of the education which is free? Students are struggling to comprehend secondary school education especially, now that it is less than three years,” INSTEPR claimed.
The organisation said there was a “vast disadvantage for government school students because their private school counterparts have a very good basic education.”
“We all know that the government has limited resources, but that does not excuse anyone not to make a systematic effort to bring back quality of education to government schools,” he argued and continued that “invest in the infrastructure and teachers as well as supervision, which make parents choose to take their kids to government primary schools to reduce the financial burden.”
“The current situation is unacceptable and INSTEPR is calling on the government to act now,” he posited, and pointed out that, “today, to send your child to government primary school means you are poor or live in the rural parts of Ghana.”
“Parents must find money to pay exorbitant fees charged by private international schools across the country. The quality of education assured by FCUBE is now a mirage.”
“The school environment is usually not conducive to learning. Classes are overcrowded, water and sanitation facilities are inadequate and trained teachers and school books are in short supply. The poor quality of education is reflected in students’ results,” the organisation quoted UNICEF as saying.
“In 2019, the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced a standard-based curriculum at the primary schools from kindergarten to primary six. After the introduction of this new curriculum, a survey report in International Journal of Education and Research Vol. 9 No. 3 March, 2021, showed that teachers had two main concerns,” it stated.
It indicated the lack of information about the new curriculum and said “the majority of the teachers who are the users of the standard-based curriculum, would like to have more information about what it entails, what it will do and what it involves.”
BY Ernest Kofi Adu