Let’s Do Away With ‘D 7’ Pass No Way Blockade – Education Minister

The hardworking Education Minister, Hon Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum has proposed the removal of the ‘D 7’ pass no way obstacle that has truncated forward match of many school going children to pursue their academic career in the past. The minister made this assertion when he delivered one hour academic lecture at the Academic City University College at Agbogba in Accra. He suggested that the system where a science student with good passes in the sciences but ‘D 7’ in English language must be allowed by the Universities to pursue their academic career. “I don’t get it when a student has excelled in the sciences with A or B+ but is denied admission simply because of D 7 in English language or an Arts student denied admission on the basis of D 7 in Maths, we are throwing away a chunk of our nation builders” . He suggested that what the universities can do is to create a Level hundred remedial classes for all such people after admission to enable them better that grade to soldier on. Those who are able to scale through would be promoted to do their level two hundred and continue their course. “I believe the time has come to help students to move along to unearth their talents , Ghana needs them all. Am not suggesting the lowering of standards but we need more educated people to achieve our transformational agenda and the lecturers should not pick arms with me”. The minister reiterated the need to create a nation of critical thinkers through restructured educational system called STEM – Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics. He opined that COTVET and STEM when properly coordinated would lead to accelerated growth that would drive Ghana to its economic transformation. For instance he told the audience that Vietnam produces 100,000 Engineers every year whiles Ghana produces just 6500. As a result , Vietnam has become the attractive hub of FDI in Eastern Asia and has the biggest Samsung manufacturing plant as a result of the availability of many engineers there. “Ghana with a population of 30,000,000 should be able to produce 30,000 engineers annually compared to Vietnam’s population of over 96,000,000 and 100,000 engineers. Our Gross Tertiary Enrollment Ratio is just 18.8 % against South Korea’s 96.8 % , and government has decided to move it up to 40 % by 2030 to produce more graduates. That’s why the government introduced the Free SHS concept to give opportunity for all Ghanaian children to go to school to realise their educational potential. He contended that the introduction of JHS and the SHS created a gap that must be filled if the country wants to catch up with its education drive. According to him, elsewhere, the two institutions are on the same campus and are well equipped and resourced but that is not the case in Ghana. The JHS has been neglected and trailing behind the SHS which shouldn’t have been the case. Against this backdrop, the government is putting up 10 new STEM schools in the country, later in all the regions to solely focus on the sciences to bridge the gap. The minister lamented that about 4 % of students in Ghana do sciences in our schools which is unfortunate. He encouraged the youth to shift to the sciences , especially the young girls who run away from such fields. He also suggested that, the STEM should be taught in the basic schools for students to grow with it but not only in the universities. The minister who appealed to the audience with eloquence received long standing ovation for his insightful, thought provoking speech with in-depth knowledge of the subject matter .

Source :Nana Poku/johnawuniktv@gmail.com