The Promotion of Science Education in Ghana

THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN GHANA

A paper delivered by Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, , Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways at the First National Forum on Harnessing Research, Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in Ghana, held at the Accra International Conference Centre, 15-19 March, 2004.

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THE FUTURE OF THE YOUTH IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN GHANA

A paper delivered by Dr. (Mrs.) Rose Emma Mamaa Enstua-Mensah, Senior research scientist at the FirstNational Forum on Harnessing Research, Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in Ghana, held at the Accra International Conference Centre, 15-19 March, 2004.

Discussant: Prof. J. Anamuah-Mensah, Vice Chancellor, University of Education, Winneba

The presentation by Dr. (Mrs. ) has been very comprehensive and enlightening as it examined the past, the present and the future of the youth in science and technology and underscored the support for science and technology development in the first Republic. In examining the present situation, the author looked at the low level of support for the management of science and technology (S&T), the perception and performance of the youth in S&T. The author also examined the organizing structures for developing the youth in S&T such as the training institutions – Senior Secondary schools (SSS), polytechnics and universities – resources for S&T such as science resource centres, laboratories and workshops, S&T museum, and teachers. The paper also looked at strategies for engaging the youth in S&T- partnership between universities, polytechnics, and industry, involvement of the youth in appreciating and developing an understanding of the science and technology in their culture, i.e., indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) including agriculture, introduction of information and communication technology (ICT), and use of Ghanaian scientists in the diaspora.

While I agree with most of the issues raised, I will like to re-echo some of the salient points in the presentation, point to some of the issues emanating from lack of national commitment to science and technology and comment on the future of science and technology for the youth in Ghana.

Ten years ago, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) lamented about the low state of science and technology in the country, which has retarded the country’s economic and social development. The commission observed that the very slow improvement in crop yields over the years was as a result of the predominant use of traditional methods of agriculture by farmers. This situation continues to exist. There is no gainsaying the fact that science education has not achieved its primary purpose of improving the social, cultural and economic conditions of the country.

But Ghana’s participation in the global knowledge system depends on the development of a strong science and technology knowledge base which is currently the currency for economic and social transformation of nations. Initiatives such as Lagos Plan of action, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and its recently constituted appendage, African Forum on Science and Technology for Development (AFSTD) requires serious commitment to and investment in S&T; that is, investment in capacity building in research and institutional development for generating and harnessing knowledge for the effective implementation of these initiatives.

Ghana is said to be the first independent sub-Saharan African country outside South Africa to embark on a comprehensive drive to promote science education and the application of science in industrial and social development (Anamuah-Mensah, 1999). One is bound to ask, What happened to our science education? Why are we not able to keep garbage out of our surroundings? Why does malaria continue to be the number one killer? Why are our industries on the brink of collapse? Why are we importing tooth picks and match sticks? Why are the few people who pursue science education migrating to other occupational fields? These questions should jolt us out of our deep sleep of total neglect of science education if science education is to be the driving force behind our social and economic transformation into a knowledge society and economy.

The Youth in Science

Characteristics

The youth constitute a major player in this since they are the ones to carry the burden of reconstructing the society in order to ensure its survival. The 2000 census indicates that Ghana has a very young population with about 44% of the population below 14 years, about 60% of the population under 25 years of age and with only about 5% over 65 years of age. The young are found in the kindergartens, basic and senior secondary schools, universities, polytechnics, private tertiary institutions and research institutions. Our failure to turn this youthful population through science and technology into skilled human capital has already begun to create serious social problems such as increasing unemployment in the country. If nothing is done for this group, a bleak future will befall our nation. But if only 10% of the youth aged 25 years and below (about 1,200,000) are trained to be future scientists and technologists, the country can lift itself out of its present situation where science and technology is not part of the everyday thinking and practice of most people. This definitely will be more tan the 2.6% of total students enrolled tertiary education.

The young people in the country are faced with unfulfilled aspirations. They see the plight of those who have dared to embrace the scientific fraternity. They know the fields of science where majority of those who have gone before them have found satisfaction- engineering, medicine and computing. But these young people have enormous potential bottled up in them and it is only when substantial resources are applied that this potential can be released.

• The youth in a science and technology propelled society will be required to be creative, communicate well, think critically, work cooperatively, find solutions to problems they encounter, maintain their motivation in the face of difficulties and connect with people and ideas

If there is any future left for our youth, this future should be found in increased resource allocation to research and development in science and technology.

• The current financial allocation to science and technology which hovers between 0.3-0.5% of GDP is grossly inadequate and should be raised to at least 1%. In some countries, the allocation to research and development alone far supersede this. South Africa spends 0.76% of GDP while Israel, USA and the countries of the European Union allocate 4.8%, 2.8% and 1.9% (on the average) of GDP respectively on research and development.

Perception of the youth

The result of the questionnaire on the perception of youth on science and technology is very revealing.

• Students at all levels have a positive image of science and technology. This needs to be capitalized on but we stand the risk of losing this if science education continues to be poorly resourced.

• In the choice of professions, there were cases of dysfunctional choices by some university students. There were many instances where students enrolled in certain career-directed study fields such as science teaching at UEW selected pharmacy as their future career. Such students seemed to have unwillingly accepted enrol in programmes that were not their first or second choice. This may have something to do with the selection of SSS students into programmes at the universities. Enrolment in courses of study at the universities should be re-examined as it does not seem to cater for the needs/career choices of the youth. Facilities need to be expanded and more programmes introduced to cater for the different interests of the students.

• Students are not familiar with the variety of careers available to the science students.

• Students pursuing science studies in the universities and research institutes had a low image of research scientists in the society.

To reverse this trend, the following initiatives will have to be taken:

• Research scientists will have to showcase their innovative works through publication in the popular media as well as talks to students in the schools and universities.
• The government can also play a critical role by ensuring that tools and other materials needed for research are made available.
• A Best Researcher Award scheme should be instituted in each institution and in the nation as a whole.

Performance of the youth in science

Mr. Chairman, any science education programme that fails 40% or more of its students needs to be re-examined; for no country can develop its science and technology effectively if over 40% fail to understand basic concepts in the subject. For example, the result of the SSSCE indicates that in 2002, over 40% failed core mathematics, elective mathematics and physics. The situation becomes even more alarming when those with grade E’s are added to the failures since most universities do not accept grade E. We cannot build a strong science and technology base with grade Es.

Figure 1: Failure rate in science in SSSCE

Figure 2: Students with Grades F and F+E in SSSCE in 2002

Over 60% failed to get a Grade D in all the pure science subjects. The case of mathematics is very serious as mathematics forms an integral part of all sciences. In the universities, mathematics lecturers have become endangered species and this in turn is manifested in the small number of mathematics teachers in both the basic and senior secondary schools. The International Science Programme of the University of Uppsala, Sweden estimates the density of PhD holders in mathematics to be about one per one million inhabitants (Prof. Alllotey, personal communication).

Initiatives such as that being pursued by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences involving the use of seasoned professors in both local and foreign universities is contributing to the training of a number of Masters and PhD students in various areas of mathematics. In addition, the summer camps on the teaching of science and mathematics for secondary school teachers is serving as a motivation for teachers since this is the only opportunity available to science and mathematics teachers to keep abreast with pedagogical content issues in their fields. Support for such initiatives can help in preparing the youth to meet challenges of the future.

What do we do for those whom the system has failed?

One of the major undesirable fallout of the education system is the production of thousands of school leavers at the JSS and SSS levels who have no employable skills and yet have to fend for themselves. The suggestion that technical and vocational institutions be set up to cater for them is not only laudable but imperative. The technical and vocational institutes should form a parallel stream to the academic science curriculum. In addition, other measures can be taken to give them appropriate skills. This includes the setting up of

• Apprentice training Scheme to be overseen by a National Apprentice Training Board as recommended by the President’s Committee on Review of Education Reform in Ghana. The Board will supervise the curricula, registration, duration and certification.
• Open Community colleges through private participation but with government support. These colleges will provide opportunities for further studies and or skill training for the youth.

Role of the Youth in Science

The future role of the youth in science and technology can be said to be three-fold.

• First, the youth need to receive the accomplishments of science and technology- that is, the theories, explanations, enquiry skills and accumulations of evidence – from the previous generation. The youth in this role, according to Sir Isaac Newton are ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’. They become the scientists who create, add on to and use the accumulated body of knowledge; they carry out research at the cutting edge of knowledge. Not all the youth can be located here; for rapid development of the country, up to 10% may be expected to play this role.

• The second is for the youth to be equipped with relevant science and technology skills and entrepreneurship to enable them enter the world of work. The President’s Committee on the Review of Education Reform indicated that “about 30% of the labour force engaged in production have never been to school. Only about 1.6% of the total educated workforce posses some qualification in technical and vocational education and only 5% have received training at secondary or higher level” (Republic of Ghana, 2002). In my estimation, 30-40% of the youth will be needed to play this role if the country is to embrace science and technology as the two pillars of growth.

• The third is the role of ‘societal reconstruction’, which enables the individual to deal with decisions relating to social issues that border on science and technology. In this age of information, it is the expectation that every citizen should be scientifically literate to enable him/her make informed choices and contributions on matters related to science and technology in order to participate in decisions affecting their lives as well as contribute to solving problems affecting society. Most of the issues faced by the youth relate to the impact of new technologies on the environment and the activities of the youth. Such people should have basic working knowledge of science and technology to enable them make intelligent and informed decisions on issues related to science and technology and to provide strong support for the activities of science – research and development. It is expected that 50-60% of the youthful population who may become politicians, media practitioners, lawyers or accountants should have this societal re-constructionist orientation. This should enable all citizens to exercise their democratic right by participating in decisions concerning the future development of this country. It is estimated that less than 15% of Ghanaians of ages 15years and above are scientifically literate (Republic of Ghana, 2003).

As mentioned in the lead papers, many factors have contributed to this state of affairs but I will highlight on the following:

• Inadequate resource allocation to science and mathematics teaching and learning at all levels of education, leading to poorly equipped laboratories and workshops;
• Inadequate government commitment to the development of science and technology;
• Poorly-developed science and technology innovation system; the lack of interaction among the different agencies connected with science and technology;
• Use of uncreative and outmoded methods of teaching and learning in the schools e.g. chalk and talk approach, textbook dependent, examination-oriented teaching; learning by rote memorization (chew-pour-pass-forget), lack of science practical in most schools and even where they are done they are designed in cook book manner to confirm known answers; non-utilization of community resources in science teaching and learning, decontextualised curricula;
• Inadequate number of teachers of mathematics, technology and science;
• Unmotivated teachers;
• Most primary and junior secondary school teachers are ill-prepared to teach science and mathematics;
• Post graduate research in science, technology and mathematics which should form the basis for developing the capacity for innovation and change is very low.

How do we move forward?

The solution to the country’ development is the promotion of science and technology education especially at the pre-tertiary level. It is not just science and technology alone but science and technology coupled with the development of the culture of innovation. Our school science and technology do not foster the culture of innovation and change in our students. The country’s development depends on the understanding and utilization of science, technology and mathematics and the capacity to contribute to innovation and change. Promotion of science education in the country will depend on three drivers of change, namely, funding, teaching and interventions, and research.

Funding

Knowledge is not cheap. Science, technology and mathematics knowledge required to move the country into the knowledge society can never be cheap. Government’s commitment to science education should be demonstrated in the level of resources allocated to science and technology. Laboratories and workshops in the schools, teacher training colleges, universities and polytechnics should be well equipped and new ones constructed to take into consideration the increasing student population.

Teaching and Interventions

Quality teachers and quality teaching are the single most important determinant of a good science education. The success of our students in science education and the progress of the nation will depend on quality science teaching which ensures the development of the innate capacities of all students. Quality teaching builds a strong foundation in basic sciences and lead also to the acquisition of better research skills. The country needs to attract, train and retain a new breed of teachers with skills required in nurturing scientific inquiry and understanding and developing innovative capacity in the youth. Such teachers must be knowledgeable, enthusiastic, dedicated, must be creative, and reflect on their teaching and students outcomes and must be ready to utilize community resources and new technologies in their work. Teaching as a career, has however, been considered as a last resort. The best students are therefore not attracted to teaching and most of those who join this profession tend not to be committed to their work.

Interventions allow schools to introduce exemplary and transferable programmes that help to develop teachers’ and students’ knowledge and skills in science and their ability to innovate. One such intervention that has encouraged girls to take up science is the Science, Technology and Mathematics Clinic of the GES. Many countries are spending millions of dollars in order to introduce sustainable initiatives in science, technology and mathematics in schools. Another is the President’s Special Initiative on Distance Education which provides mathematics and English Language lessons for JSS and SSS.

The Table below gives examples of intervention in some countries.

Table 1: Examples of interventions in some countries

Country / Activity
Hong Kong / $5 billion spent on Quality Education Fund to support science, technology and mathematics projects. 4,600 projects supported so far.
UK / Specialist School Trust has created 1448 science, technology and mathematics schools.
Singapore / Thinking Schools, Learning Nation Programme supports critical thinking culture in schools.
Finland / LUMA programme improves mathematics and science education through formation of network of schools and institutions, in-service education and teacher education.

As noted by the author, science education covers all levels of education, from primary to the university. My focus will be on pre-university institutions