Professor says teaching of science should be made easy
Professor Reynolds Okine, Rector of Koforidua Polytechnic, has urged the government to put in place policies that would make science and mathematics studies more attractive to students at the pre-tertiary level.
He also appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure that only teachers with background in science and mathematics education were allowed to teach those subjects at the Primary and Junior High School (SHS) levels.
“Teachers who have mastery in science and mathematics can teach well to the understanding of the students and eventually rekindle their interests in those subjects, he said.”
Professor Okine was speaking at the 51st Annual Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) at Oyoko in the New Juaben Municipality.
He said most Ghanaians had developed a phobia for mathematics and science because of the poor teaching methodology and the perception that they were difficult subjects.
Professor Okai therefore called for immediate review of the teaching of mathematics and science at the pre-tertiary level to make them more attractive to the students.
He said in the 2012 West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), as many as 85,338 students opted for Economics, 41,910 for Government, and as low as 60 went for Electronics.
The Rector said 136 students opted for Jewelry, 154 for Auto Mechanics, 164 for Metal Works, whereas 649 and 964 opted for Ceramics and Building Constructions respectively.
He said the statistics posed a gloomy picture on the state of science and mathematics education at the SHS and therefore called on all stakeholders in education to tackle the reason for the unacceptable phenomenon where students opt for the humanities more than the sciences.
“If it is because of poor teaching methodology of science and mathematics or a very loaded curriculum resulting in students developing hatred for the subjects, let us find out and review,” he said.
Professor Okine expressed disenchantment about a contemporary trend where science students who obtain grade eight ‘As’ or seven ‘As’ and a ‘B’ do not get admission to study their preferred programmes at the university.
He said such a trend had a negative impact on the students and that “it does not boost their moral to study science at the pre-tertiary level.”
“I wish to call on the government to intervene by ensuring that tertiary institutions expand and upgrade their facilities to ensure that science students are not denied opportunity to study their preferred programmes at the university provided they qualify for admission,” he added.
Source: GNA