President of Chamber of Mines advocates paradigm shift in education

Schools in the 21st Century must prepare students for a very different field of work, Mr Daniel Owiredu, President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines noted over the weekend.

He said the educational needs of the youth are shifting rapidly hence the need for deviation from the old system to meet the new demands of industry and society at large.

Mr Owiredu made the call at the 102th Speech and Prize Giving and Founders Day celebration of the Adisadel College in Cape Coast on the theme: “Quality secondary education- The indispensability of stakeholders.”

According to him, the World Bank recently confirmed that the pursuit of high quality secondary education was seriously “undermined by curricula, which is over academic, subject-oriented and irrelevant.”

The Chamber of Mines President suggested the need for a proper reform in high school education, while the curricula must evolve through assessment with the aim to create relationship between curriculum objectives, structures, contents, equity and quality.

Mr Owiredu who is an ‘old boy’ of the School indicated that to achieve the shift, policy makers should be actively supported by stakeholders to examine current practices in schools, consider the demands of a technology based society and re-design teaching and learning to fit the needs of industry and the society.

He pointed out that stakeholders need to play increasing roles in order to facilitate the expected transition towards quality and relevant education, direct its content and also make provision for the required funding to meet the mounting calls for the appropriate change.

Institutions such as local churches, services and relevant bodies should be largely engaged in informational meetings aimed at forming mutually supportive and other voluntary services to promote the general well-being of senior high schools in Ghana.

Mr Owiredu said attention should be given to the natural sciences and mathematics as well as Information Communication Technology disciplines to serve as a springboard to develop the nation.

He said the virtues of patriotism, bravery, determination and hard work with reference from the country’s rich history should deepen the nation’s cultural relevance.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Hebert Graham said the academic facility obtained 99.5 per cent in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination in the 2010/2011 academic year.

He enumerated some challenges facing the school to include over population due to inadequate boarding facilities, poor roads and rampant power outages and expressed worry that lack of electricity could affect the performance of the final year students.