By: Abdulai Zulkaninu/padfm.com.gh
Rev. Samuel Awuni, Leader of the Evangelical church of Ghana, Damongo, and the immediate past chairperson of the West Gonja Municipal Council of Churches has commended National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) for the new Secondary Education Curriculum developed for Senior High Schools (SHS), Senior High Technical Schools (SHTS), and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Ghana. He said the new curriculum will assist improve the lives of young people in both academia and practical life situations. The future will be different from today if the curriculum is well implemented by the country and the educational system will be improved, young people will be equipped with the right skills and this will lead to positive national development, he added.
Rev Samuel Awuni believes ‘Ghana will be fully independent’ when the government and key stakeholders take steps to carefully implement the curriculum. And prayed for NaCCA, the government of Ghana, and key stakeholders to make sure required resources are made available for smooth execution.
Issahaku Iddisah, West Gonja Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), stressed that when adequate resources are made available to implementing organizations, the country future education system will receive much progress. He said there’s a need to organize training for teachers, headmasters, directors, and other stakeholders involved in the implementation so that what happened during basic level curriculum implementation period won’t be repeated.
“I remember the basic level curriculum that was implemented, the period for the training was too short. The resources that were needed for the training were also not adequate and that didn’t go on well with the grassroot. We are trying on our own at our district level to organize refresher training, but faced with resource challenges”.
The director also expressed gratitude to NaCCA over a job well done and said the idea to link the new curriculum to an industry where students can do their attachments practically at various industries related to the courses offered will be good and should be considered”.
The new curriculum is aimed at ensuring all learners achieve their potential by equipping them with 21st-century skills, competencies, character qualities, and shared Ghanaian values, and also preparing learners to live a responsible adult life, further their education, and enter the world of work.
Addressing participants in Damongo during the Savannah Regional stakeholder engagement of the new curriculum, the head of corporate affairs at NaCCA, Madam Rebecca Abu Gariba, assured the council has made provision for resources, waiting for the rollout of the curriculum and appealed to all stakeholders in education to own the new curriculum to make the implementation easier.
“One of the reasons why we are here is to engage stakeholders, take stakeholders through the new senior high school curriculum. We look at the various subject combinations and we look at the fact sheet, what is in the senior high school curriculum”.
Rebecca noted the new curriculum will ensure all subjects are integrated with Ghanaian values, which can be seen through practical pedagogical strategies that have been suggested through assessment for learners to get shared Ghanaian values in their classrooms with certificates recognized worldwide.
The Savannah regional stakeholders engagement was held at the Catholic unity center, Damongo on 26th July, 2024. The program was graced by various departments and associations.
