The Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has reminded all Ghanaians to keep their hopes high, and support the transformation agenda so together they could one day sit back and say that, although there were challenging times, they worked together to overcome them.
He explained that the various economic interventions and education reforms which are being implemented in the country would soon lead to the transformation of the nation’s economy.
Dr Adutwum announced this over the weekend when he delivered an address at the 65th speech and prize-giving day of Okuapemman School at Akuapem Akropong in the eastern region.
The event which attracted hundreds of people from across the country had the theme “Sustaining Quality Inclusive Education in Ghana: The Role of Technology and Infrastructure.”
Dr Adutwum commenting on the theme for the occasion said the theme rightly connects with the vision of President Akufo-Addo in improving inclusive quality education for the socio-economic transformation of the nation.
He congratulated the management, staff, alumni and entire student body of Okuapemman School for their roles played over the years leading to the attainment of a great feat chalked so far.
The Education Minister indicated that due to the lack of sufficient relevant 21st Century skills anchored in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) among the current and future generations, it behooves the nation to ensure that Ghanaian children also participated fully in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
“This will enable the nation to reposition the entire education system to produce a critical mass of assertive and empowered Ghanaian students equipped with the essential skills for socio-economic transformation”. Dr Adutwum.
He explained that to deliver the finest possible STEM education, the government is building ten STEM Senior High Schools, in addition, to extensively restructuring many Senior High Schools across the nation with the necessary learning instruments in the laboratories and classrooms.
The Education Minister stated that “several of these STEM Senior High Schools, including those in Abomoso in the Eastern area, Bosomtwe in the Ashanti, and Awaso in the Western north, among other locations, have already begun teaching and learning”. Dr Adutwum said.
He added that the construction of the Accra STEM Academy is another government initiative which will provide instruction in problem-solving, creativity, communication, collaboration, data literacy, digital literacy, and computer science to students in kindergarten through high school.
The Headmaster of Okuapemman School, Rev. Richard Koranteng Afari, praised the government for the great effort it has been making towards improving the infrastructure in the school as well as other support to the school.
He recounted the various effort made by the government through the Ministry of Education and GeTFund to expand the school’s physical infrastructure and facilities to accommodate the increased number of admitted students.
The Headmaster said “in fulfilment of the President’s promise during our 60th Anniversary, a newly refurbished and equipped state of the art Science Laboratory is near completion. We have equally received bunker beds and desks for our dormitories and classrooms respectively, a beneficiary of a Pickup and a 60-seater bus that was donated to schools across the country as a means of supporting the provision of necessary logistics for effective administration and academic work”.
Rev. Koranteng Afari enumerated some of the challenges confronting the school as the poor roads which have been affecting the easy movement by both teachers and students, inadequate classroom facilities leading to congestion, poor library and Information and Communication Technology laboratory facilities,
He explained that although Okuapemman School was the first school in the country to have its Visually Impaired Persons (students) write their WASSCE using computers, their Resource Library has become small relative to the increased number of visually impaired students in the School and therefore called for expansion of the facility.