Two reports on the promotion of STEM education among junior high school (JSS) students across the nation have been sent to the Ministry of Education.
Officials of the DreamOval Foundation-Ghana Science and Tech Explorer Prize (GSTEP) presented the reports to the Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, in Accra yesterday[June 21, 2022] for review. The reports are titled "Practical STEM education in Ghana, barriers and opportunity" and "GSTEP design and implementation report."
The thorough studies, according to GSTEP Coordinator Francis Ahene-Affoh, will help the government's initiative to adopt STEM education through hands-on learning procedures. He said: "In these papers, we have assembled ideas and solutions that will push the stem agenda among young people."
The research notes issues including overcrowding, a lack of instructional resources, and insufficient time for practical work to allow pupils to come up with solutions to problems.
Vision
According to Dr. Adutwum, the goal of the administration is to elevate the nation to the top spot in STEM education in Africa.
In this Fourth Industrial Revolution, STEM education will bring about the transformation that has evaded us for many years, he said, adding that "we will not take the second slot to any nation."
He stated that the ministry was constructing STEM centres at current senior high schools as part of efforts to accomplish that goal (SHSs).
He continued by saying that the absence of organised programmes had always been the weak link. He said that the government was establishing organised environments for girls to learn biomedical sciences, aviation, and engineering, among other subjects, by building stem schools.
Dr. Adutwum said that the reports will undergo a trial programme before being included to the regular school curriculum.
Despite the fact that the JHS was the report's primary target audience, he said that SHSs will also get the suggestions.
The Problem
Along with the reports, there will also be a contest dubbed the GSTEP Challenge to gauge pupils' creative abilities.
Constance Agyeman, the director of international development for Nesta Challenges, the program's organisers, reported that they had already received several student entries for the challenge in architecture.
She said that as part of the challenge, high schools will be divided into groups of four to six and given the responsibility of working to resolve problems highlighted in local areas.
She stated that 25 groups will be chosen from the Greater Accra and Ashanti areas, supervised, coached, and given advice on how to turn their ideas into prototypes by specialists from the business.
In order to demonstrate their capacity for invention, innovation, and the creation of business strategies, the students will be required to design goods using their technical and STEM talents.
With finalists being announced in December of this year, the programme will allow children to develop their entrepreneurial abilities at a young age.