GPHA supports government with 10000 Core Maths Revised Guide for Senior High Schools

As part of its efforts of supporting government’s Free Senior High School (SHS) Policy and help in addressing the worrying trend of failures in Mathematics at the Senior High Schools in the country, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has donated some 10000 Core Mathematics Revised Guide to the Ministry of Education.

The presentation which was done by Mrs Abena Serwaa Opoku Fosu, on behalf of the Director General of GPHA, was a gesture aimed at supporting government in areas of Mathematics teaching in Senior High Schools.

It is on record that performance in Core Mathematics at the Senior High Schools for the past six years have not been encouraging.

In 2015, 25.29% of candidates who sat for WASSCE core Mathematics obtained A1 to C6 whilst 74.71% obtained D7 to F9.

However in 2018, there was a drop in performance of 42.73% who obtained between A1 to C6 in 2017 to 38.33%.

According to Abena Serwaa Opoku Fosu, the decision to print and donate 10000 copies of Core Mathematics Revised Guide to the Ministry of Education to be distributed to schools, was due to the fact that existing Mathematics text books are voluminous making it difficult for students to revise and be able to cover the syllabus before examination.

She said the Revised Guide come in handy to aid students through the study of Mathematics.

Meanwhile, at the presentation ceremony other organisations including the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Heritage Bank, National Investment Bank, Ghana Maritime Authority, Deloit &Touche, Ghana Shippers Authority, National Communications Authority (NCA) and MFI have also made similar donations to the Ministry towards same agenda.

The donations however came on World Mathematics Day which fallsnon September 10 of every year.

The Minister for Education, Hon. Mathew Opoku-Prempeh commended the various institutions for the donation and indicated that Mathematics form the crux of STEM initiative and that all efforts must be made to ensure that teaching and learning of Mathematics is attractive for students.

He said government has promised to make maths and science part of the basic curriculum and that without maths, live is meaninglessness.

According to him, every aspect of life revolves around Mathematics hence the gesture by these institutions are a welcoming indication of how far the country wants to go with Mathematics.

“In our quest for development, if we do not prioritise mathematics we cannot go anywhere,” he said.

Mathew Opoku Prempeh also indicated that the huge numbers of failure in Mathematics have been worrying and that the trend is mainly on how students are able to contextualise what they are being taught in order to give correct answers to questions.

He also mentioned that the ministry will carry out audits through schools to determine the performance of students from the lower level through to the SHS level for government to tailor remedies to the problems.

He thanked the institutions for their donation and stressed that the books will be delivered to schools across the country for use by the students.