Reduction in SHS duration, not solution to problems

Tamale, Sept. 1, GNA - An educationist has said that the reduction of the duration of the Senior High School (SHS) programme from four years to three years alone was not a solution to the falling standards of education at that level.

Professor Kaku Sagary Nokoe, Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), who made the observation, called for a multi-approach to the abysmal performance of students, especially in Mathematics at all levels of the country's educational system.

He was addressing the 35th Annual workshop/conference of the Mathematical Association of Ghana in Tamale on Tuesday.

The week-long conference, being attended by delegates from various parts of the country, enabled the participants to brainstorm on the teaching of Mathematics to acquire new methodology in the teaching of the subject.

Prof. Nokoe said "It is a disturbing issue that each year the worse performance of candidates at the BECE and SSCE/WASSCE levels is mostly in Mathematics and English and this has become an annual ritual".

He said that the provision of adequate national and institutional funding and sustained support for training of Mathematics teachers was a long-term solution to the problem.

Prof. Nokoe said a wide-range of issues, including the training of Mathematics teachers, pupil-teacher ratio, availability of textbooks and other teaching materials and improved teaching and learning methods were the most effective ways of enhancing the performance of students in Mathematics.

He called for a planned and structured use of the "idle period" between the end of the basic school examination and the admission period of students into SHS for the teaching of Mathematics to make them adequately prepared for the SHS.

Prof. Damian Kofi Mereku of the University College of Education, Winneba, said Ghana 's performance at the Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) at the basic level though improved in 2007, remained among the lowest in Africa .

He explained that the country's Mathematics score of 309 in 2007 was significantly higher than the 2003 score of 276, a 33 point increase but failed to meet the TIMSS average score of 500.

Prof. Mereku, who was a resource person at the workshop, recommended that the Ghana Education Service (GES) should investigate the ineffective use of recommended textbooks, while lesson planning format be reviewed to make teaching and learning of Mathematics easier with emphasis on students' learning activities.

Teachers, he said, should be provided with challenging homework and trained in constructing Science and Mathematics tests.

Miss Adwoa Nkrumah, President of the Association, called for the training of qualified and more Mathematicians to help support all the sectors of the economy.

GNA