GES to roll-out new curriculum for primary school

The Ghana Education Service (GES) would from 2020-2021 roll-out a new curriculum for Primary School pupils to enable them to compete with their compatriots worldwide.

Under the new curriculum, the Kindergarten (KG) would have its learning areas reduced from seven to four which would be integrated into themes but would be treated in-depth.

Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, the Director General of the GES, made these known to the media in Accra on Thursday at a briefing, stated that pre-tertiary education had been bedevilled by challenges, thus the need to review.

He said at the Lower and Upper Primary, the number of subjects would be same with fewer concepts and more in-depth treatment of concept in each subject but with greater emphasis on literacy and numeracy.

The Director-General said under the new module, there would be an introduction of standards-based curriculum, whereby at every stage in school, pupils would be expected to demonstrate an understanding of mastery of knowledge and skills of what they learn as they progress.

He hinted that there would be national assessments at Primaries “Two,” “Four” and “Six,” to address any challenge before they would be exposed to external examinations.

In the new curriculum, Professor Amankwa said, history would be compulsory while Religious and Moral Education, as well as Physical Education (PE), would be independent subjects, adding that PE would be taught more practically.

He said French would be introduced at the Upper Primary level as the pupils progressed in the studies.

Professor Amankwa explaining how it would be implemented throughout the country said, about 150 trainers have been given skills and they were expected to train 3,900 regional and district trainers.

Above all, the district and regional trainers would share their skills and experiences with about 152,000 KG and Primary school teachers, saying, there would be continuous professional development through the setting-up of learning communities for teachers.

Mr Amankwa said the essence of the revision was to transform GES for sustainability and heighten cultural identity and nationalism among Ghanaian children.

He said the non-review of the curriculum after every five years did not conform to international standards and was also not the best, adding that the WASSCE results indicated that Ghana’s performance was not standard.

Professor Amankwa said usually, the Ghanaian curriculum had been the one that prepared students for examination but not necessarily to help them acquire knowledge but this one would address it.

The Director-General said there had been consultations with stakeholders, that is, agencies under the Ministry of Education such as Directors of Education, faith-based organisations, Parent Teachers Association, Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, Conference of Heads of Basic Schools and Accreditation Board.

On the issue of the SIC insurance scheme for staff, Professor Amankwa said it was to cater for deaths, disability resulting from accidents or serious illnesses, adding that there is ten per cent cash back if claims were not made for three years.

He explained that as a result of agitations by some members due to challenges the scheme experienced, 1,770 staff who were not interested in it had had their monthly deductions refunded to them.

“It must be emphasized that management will not impose the scheme on any staff who declares his/her interest to opt-out,” he noted.