Modify statistical education - Nsowah-Nuamah

Kumasi, July 25, GNA - Professor Nicholas Nsowah-Nuamah, Acting government Statistician, has called for the modification of statistical education in the country to enable statisticians measure up to public expectation.

He said statistical training and research institutions should produce a new breed of statisticians equipped not only with a sound knowledge of sampling and basic theory, but also with analytical skills to develop "data sense" and recognize "patterns" in the data. The statistician with such skills, he said, would be well-equipped to get the most out of incomplete data through the application of appropriate estimation and imputation techniques that could be exploited to get the most out of a mixture of administrative and survey data. Professor Nsowah-Numah was speaking at the 10th biannual delegates' conference of sub-saharan Africa Network (SUSAN) of the International Biometric Society in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The five-day conference was under the theme: "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); The role of biometrics". It aimed at providing a forum for statisticians, mathematicians and biometricians to brainstorm and come out with the appropriate roles that will help them contribute to the attainment of the MDGs. Representatives from the USA, UK, Benin, South Africa, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Lesotho, Cameroon, Botswana and Ghana are attending the conference.

Professor Nsowah-Nuamah said there was no point producing stereotyped statisticians who could proof all the theorems in statistics and mathematics but could scarcely conceptualise problems and determine what appropriate statistical method to be used to solve it. He also stressed the need for statistical students to develop a whole range of ICT-related skills that were not restricted to computation skills or the simple "crunching" of numbers. "Students need to appreciate the notions of a database and develop the ability to manage and integrate them," he added.

Professor Nsowah-Nuamah, suggested to the Ministry of Education to introduce statistics as an elective subject at the senior secondary school level to enable students to differentiate statistics from mathematics.

He stated that the goals of the MDGs could not be achieved without good official statistics to measure and monitor progress towards them, adding that, accurate and timely measurement and report of all economic and social activities in a country were needed for effective management. Professor Kwasi Kwarfo Adarkwa, Vice Chancellor of KNUST, said the objectives of the MDGs, mainly to reduce poverty, promote gender parity and reduce child and maternal deaths in developing countries, had posed challenges for various professionals including mathematicians and biometrics. 25 Jul. 07