Everything is in place for the take off of Government's ambitious Education Refor

Syllabuses to be used under the Educat

The sector minister, Dominic Fobih, who announced this at the weekly meet-the-press session in Accra yesterday, said the Curriculum Research and Development Division developed the syllabuses for Kindergarten, Primary, Junior High School and the core subjects for the Senior High School.

"As part of efforts to get the syllabuses to the schools by the beginning of the academic year ,the Ministry duplicated the syllabuses onto compact discs and forwarded them to all District Directors,” he said. “The Directors are to print copies and distribute them to all schools in their respective Districts.”

Schools with Internet connectivity have had theirs sent directly to them already.

The reform starts with two years of kindergarten for pupils at age four, six years of primary school at which the pupil attains age 12, to be followed by three years of Junior High School till the pupil is 15 years.

After the JHS, the student may choose to go into different streams of the four years of Senior High School which would offer General Education with electives in General Arts, Business, Technical, Vocational and Agricultural Education options for entry into tertiary institutions or the job market.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in April, President Kufuor noted that the Educational Reform Programme, which had been under preparation since 2002 was designed, among other things, to prepare the appropriate human resource in the form of skilled, technologically-advanced and disciplined workforce with the right ethics to service the growing economy.

He said the Reform placed emphasis on Mathematics, Science and Technology, but to develop a well rounded society, the Arts and Social Sciences would continue to receive the necessary support in the curriculum.

"This should promote Ghana’s surge into the Golden age of business and national prosperity. It should also reinforce Ghana’s role as a beacon nation in the resurgence of Africa as envisioned in the New Partnership for Africa’s Development," he said.

President Kufuor said the expectation of the education reform, which coincided with the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, was to advance the literacy rate to 100 per cent by 2015, pay special attention to girls’ education to make them better mothers and heighten awareness of the environment to preserve national resources.

Under the reforms, an Apprenticeship Programme, organised jointly by the State and Industry for skills acquisition would be available for students, who opted for employment after Junior High School, of which the cost of the first year would be borne by the State.

Tertiary education would also benefit from the reforms, with plans in place and, in some cases being implemented to expand residential accommodation, lecture halls, laboratories and libraries of the 15 universities and 10 Polytechnics of the country.

Addressing the media yesterday, Prof Fobih said the training of teachers in the use of the new syllabuses had begun and would be continued in phases running from September 4 to September 27.

"The teachers are being taught the best methods to apply in the new syllabuses to ensure effective and comprehensive teaching in the classrooms," he said.

The Minister said the reforms placed emphasis on the teaching of Information Communication Technology at all levels of the education system, with the requisite syllabuses developed for both the basic schools and SHS.

"However, due to the general state of development in some communities, the Ministry in conjunction with the Ghana Education Service has decided to begin the integration of ICT at the SHS level in phases.

"The first phase will involve 250 selected SHS around the country."

He said in addition to the 250 schools, there were 100 relatively well-endowed schools that already had the infrastructure in place to be able to implement the programme.

Prof Fobih said the Ministry had asked the National Service Secretariat to post at least 250 Service Personnel with ICT background and qualifications to the selected schools.

In a related development, Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Information and National Orientation, yesterday said teachers under the present government were better off than during the era of the previous administration.

Expressing regrets about some statement made by John Evans Atta Mills, the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress during his latest "door-to-door" campaign at Teshie, she said there were a lot of things that teachers could do with their salary, including clothing and rent.

In a statement signed by Mrs Sai-Cofie, she said it was unfortunate that Prof Mills, a former Vice-President could hide behind the cloak of party politics and try to throw dust into the eyes of the public by intimating that the ruling New Patriotic Party was not committed to the welfare of teachers and had not done much to help.

She said the statement by Prof Mills was without merit and could not stand any critical analysis from the facts on the ground. "What the facts tell us is that the welfare of the teachers, and indeed the entire Ghanaian populace, has been enhanced under the NPP Administration."

She cited figures in December 1993 under the NDC government when the annual salary of a "Certificate A" holder was ¢663,781, equivalent to $830.

In January 2007, under the NPP, a Certificate A holder’s annual salary had reached ¢17,04,227, equivalent to $1,851, adding that this had increased to ¢20,961,311 or $2,264 by April 2007.

"But Government does not feel complacent about this and wants to do more. It is the reason we are also assisting the Ghana National Association of Teachers to clear their vehicles without paying duties on them."

Mrs Sai-Cofie said that teachers’ bungalows were being built in various parts of the country, while houses were also being allocated to teachers under the affordable housing scheme.

She said government would continue to support teachers in all aspects of their endeavours due to the crucial role they played in the socio-economic growth of the country. source: Statesman