Happy FM holds maiden edition of Development Dialogue with engagement with Education Ministry

Radio brand which has made a name for itself in the Ghanaian media space, Happy98.9FM has once again set the trial blazing with its Development Dialogue series carried by its authoritative socio-political talk show Epa Hoa Daben.

Being the first of its kind in the nation, the series seeks to engage the various ministries in the country in a discourse to explain their work and that of other agencies under their authority.

The very first dialogue was held on Friday May 21, 2021 with the Ministry of Education on the theme; ‘Positioning Ghana’s Education for Sustained Development’ at the ministry’s premises, and saw the active participation of the various agencies under the ministry.

The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum speaking at the dialogues revealed government plans to introduce new model schools that seek to promote STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.

He noted that these blocks are the vision of President Akufo-Addo as he seeks to provide and promote quality education that competes with international standards and give teachers equal comfort.

“These school blocks will not be in the traditional classroom setting. It is the President’s vision to provide good classrooms that support the STEM system with a system where teachers have their own comfortable classrooms. Here, the students will come to the teacher and not the other way round. These classrooms will be equipped with ultramodern facilities that support and promote

STEM education.” he revealed.

The Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Kwabena B. Tandoh speaking at the event indicated that the service is focused on providing lifelong learning opportunities to the over 8.1 million students in its care.

“It is our goal to train our students with skills for lifelong learning. Thus, our curriculum helps children develop into successful leaders. In our new standard based curriculum, for example, we have what we call the ‘dream Ghanaian child’ who is trained to be a well-rounded good citizen, a problem solver, thinker, tech savvy and generally a good citizen. It is also our objective to get the students to understand Ghana’s history. To realize this goal, teachers are also taken through capacity-building processes and professional development to ensure they relay the right information to students,” he shared.

The Financial Controller of Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), Alexis Asuinura who was also present emphasised on the role of the Fund not being limited to offering scholarships to students.

“Scholarships constitute less than 5 percent of what we do. We have big projects that we are involved in. For example, for the various levels of educational institutions, we provide infrastructure. We can talk of three-unit classrooms for the JHS, dormitories for second cycle institutions, 12- and 18-unit classrooms, laboratories and dormitories for tertiary institutions”, he told Happy 98.9FM’s Don Kwabena Prah.

With education becoming technologically inclined now, the Director of the Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling [CENDLOS], Dr. Joshua Mallet noted that Ghana’s education system will be archaic without their innovations.

He revealed that CENDLOS is inclined towards infusing technology into education, management, teaching, learning and research.

The Complementary Education Agency which is in charge of adult education also has hopes of educating more than the 60,000 adults they already enrol into the programme yearly to hasten the developmental agenda of the country.

Speaking on this feat, Director of Broadcasting for Global Media Alliance Broadcasting Company (GMABC), parent company of Happy98.9FM, Timothy Karikari hailed the team for making the initiative possible and also appreciated the ministry for opening up itself for the dialogue.

He also shared that the Ministry of Education was its first stop in the development dialogues and pledged the brand will continuously play its role as a watchdog and engage other ministries on their roles for the benefit of the Ghanaian populace.