EDUCATIONAL REFORM REQUIRES CHANGE IN MENTALITY (Lead Education Page)

06/03/2008

Story: Mary Mensah, Saltpond

Educational reform requires change in mentality

THE Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Prof. A. Asabre-Ameyaw, has stated that the new educational reform calls for the total and fundamental transformation of teaching and management of the educational enterprise.
He said the reform required a change in mentality and a complete conceptual switch in the thinking and practices of education, coupled with the commitment by all stakeholders.
Prof. Asabre-Ameyaw was delivering the keynote address at the 45th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the Mfantsiman Girls Secondary School at Saltpond in the Central Region at the weekend.
The celebration was on the theme, “Successful Implementation of the New Educational Reform - The role of Stakeholders”.
The Vice Chancellor said the new reform called for quality education and any educational institution that professed quality education should produce students with the knowledge, skills and work habits needed to become productive and fulfilled citizens.
He said such institutions should provide clear goals, set high standards, have good and disciplined teachers and a well organised curriculum.
Prof. Asabre-Ameyaw reminded those involved in managing educational enterprises that to maximise the productivity of teachers, they should be remunerated well to prevent them from engaging activities for extra income in order for them to have adequate time for their work.
He said the government had the first responsibility in ensuring that schools had what it took to provide quality teaching and learning by providing basic resources such as buildings, utilities, teachers, teaching materials and vehicles for field trips.
The vice chancellor called on board of governors of schools to exercise effective supervision over academic and financial administration of the school.
He said it was important for them to have good working relations with heads of schools and hold all staff accountable for the results of the school.
The vice chancellor said quality education was one of the productive investments we should make and so we should provide funds and invest in the future citizens whose skills and knowledge would determine the direction of our economic development.
“Unless we make changes that will make us proud of our schools, to hold the teachers in high esteem and to decide that there was no better way for children and teenagers to spend part of their every day life than studying, we will squander the nation’s potential for future excellence,” he said.
The headmistress of the school, Mrs Sarah Wilson, said the school registered 519 candidates for the 2007 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and recorded 99.6 percent pass.
She said even though there was a slight improvement over the previous year’s results, the school had not been particularly impressed with the overall performance as several factors militated against achieving expected goals.
She said the school was in urgent need of assistance in order to cope with challenges that faced it and mentioned the expansion of the dining hall to serve the entire student population at one sitting. Currently, she said, students had to go to the dining hall in shifts.


Miss Jiaui Sapathy of the Mfantsiman Girls Secondary School, who emerged the overall best student of the school, during the West Africa Senior Secondary Certicifate Examination (WASSCE), receiving an award from a member of the school board, Bishop Jeremiah Morrison, when the school held its 45th speech and prize-giving day last week-end.