Ghana’s education system below international standards: Survey reveals
The survey was conducted on some 144 countries across the world, concerning doing business and a nation’s competitiveness by providing insight into what drives their productivity and prosperity.
Some of the twelve pillars on which the survey is conducted are good market efficiency, innovation, higher education and training.
On education, Ghana is ranked among the top 50 with quality management in schools and placed 52 among the 144 on quality mathematics and science education but placed 38 from bottom, coming 106 on tertiary education enrollment.
The report said, “Ghana must do more to develop and deploy talents in the country," adding that education levels continue to fall in the country.
Other African countries that ranked higher than Ghana include: Mauritius which placed 54, Tunisia 73 and Kenya, which placed 95.
The report comes in the wake of criticisms from the poor performance of students during the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
But a teacher specialised in creative writing, Nii Ayi Parkes has proposed that teachers engage students in more visual forms of teaching to improve teaching standards in schools.
He said that even though the current method has the content in many cases students are thought to memorise and reproduce exactly what they have been taught.
Speaking on Joy News Mr. Parkes said, “I think the teaching has the content but in a large proportion of cases, they teach the kids to memories, to be able to regurgitate what the teachers have thought them without necessarily understanding the root theories that govern those ideas they are being taught."
He explained that because teaching is not tied to the real world, it restricts innovation “because if you don’t understand why something is, then you can’t question it and create new ways of doing them."
He explained that even though encouraging students to ask questions is good; it might pose some risks because a teacher’s failure to answer might compromise their authority.
He said even though this might be challenging teachers should not run from answering questions but rather consistently continue to educate themselves and broaden their knowledge base.
source:myjoyonline.com
