Students exiting primary school into the proposed six-year Secondary School system will feature aeronautic science, aviation, computer programming, and engineering as part of their studies, according to Minister of Education Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.
This, according to the minister, will prepare the country’s young talents for advanced technologies while also supporting the country’s goal of having 60 percent of all tertiary students participate in STEM programs.
“As a response to the fourth industrial revolution, our children should not be limited to studying home economics and visual arts in high schools.” You can study aviation, aeronautical sciences, and computer sciences in high school and then build software for computers.”
“You can learn engineering in high school, and that is where we can develop a pool of talent that can then go on to our institutions, where we aspire to have 60% of our university students engaged in STEM programs.”
Dr. Adutwum, speaking at the Christian Service University College’s 45th Congregation in Kumasi, stated that Ghana needed to fully adopt the six-year high school system used in the United States of America, from which the country adopted its Junior and Senior High School systems.
“We borrowed from America, but over there, junior high schools have the same facilities as senior high schools. They have practiced for six years and now have seven years of high school education. ”
The minister further pointed out that his outfit is working at enrolling 200 SHS visual arts graduates into engineering programs in selected Universities to erode the status quo which bars such creative students from pursuing higher learning in the Sciences and Engineering.
To further push this drive, Dr Adutwum stated that a scholarship scheme for rural children with interest in engineering was already in the works to encourage more children in underprivileged communities to take interest in STEM.
108 post graduate students and 350 under graduate students graduated from the Faculty of Humanities, the School Of Business and the Faculty of Health and Applied Sciences of the Christian Service University College.
The president of the University Prof. Samuel Afrane outlined a number of measures including a quality improvement program instituted to rebrand the university to stand shoulder to shoulder with internationally recognized institutions of higher learning.
He explained, “Management of the university has instituted a policy improvement program with interventions and innovations, to transform the institution to achieve a credible and appropriate brand image to position the university as an internationally recognized private Christian university in Africa with a commitment to excel in innovative learning, teaching and cutting edge research.
He was confident with the beefing up of the university’s staff strength with 16 PHD holders and 12 others currently pursuing doctoral studies in varied disciplines, the university will soon increase its number of post graduate programs from 4 to 7.
