Ministry working towards SHS visually impaired maths curriculum

For the first time, visually impaired students who have challenges with their eyes in senior high schools can be open to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers for the first time and technical education privileges.

This comes in accordance with a move to come up with a mathematics curriculum particularly made or designed for visually impaired students with eye problems.

The Ministry of Education is recently operating with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) to come up with the curriculum for that out-turn.

Haruna Iddrisu, who stated this at the launch of a 12-member GES Governing Council last Friday in Accra. He enumerated that the step addresses part of the extensive amendments that are taken up by the government to make the curriculum all-embracing. He added that the ministry is operating with the aim of improving the well-being of a Ghanaian sign language curriculum to help visually impaired pupils and institutions for students with hearing impairments.

He highlighted, “It is necessary to have some curriculum for such persons who are disabled to ensure that commands for students who cannot hear or who have problems hearing clearly will be assisted by that.”

The Governing Council of the GES has a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Prof. Mawutor Avoke, as the Chairman, with Dr Rosemond Wilson, characterising the West African Examinations Council (WAEC); Prof. Azeko Tahiru Salifu, characterising the National Schools Inspectorate Authority; Adam Adu Marshall, standing in as the Teaching Council; Prof. Yayra Dzakadzie, representing NaCCA; and Rt Rev. Paa Solomon Grant-Essilfie, standing in for the teacher associations, as members.

The remaining ones are Mamle D. Andrews of the Ministry of Education; Felicia Dapaah Agyeman-Boakye of the Local Government Service Council; Adamu Bintu Fati, characterising the non-teaching staff of GES; a professor, Florence Bobi; a characteristic of the faith-based organisations; and Prof.Ernest Kofi Davis, the Director-General of the GES.

The minister handled the oath of office and secretiveness to them. The education minister handed over a duty to the governing council in making sure that they operated with beneficiaries to come up with the earliest digital education scheme for Ghana before the year comes to an end.

The digital education scheme that is expected, he enumerated, would show how Ghana would prevail in information and communications technology (ICT) in the education system, making it essential to the well-being of the pupil in preschool.

About protection in institutions and the current news of gunshots and the showing off of sharp harmful objects in some schools, Mr Iddrisu demanded the governing council take instant, effective and very efficient measures to ensure protection in all educational institutions and requested the official organisation that sends in inspectors of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reinforce school checkups in that range.

He also said he was forcing the initiation of a Tertiary Vocation Education and Training (TVET) Fund, 25 per cent of which could be assigned to help the national apprenticeship programme.

Mr Haruna Iddrisu restated the government’s willingness to bring the double-track system in senior high schools to an end, singling out that it had already caused the creation of academic instability, reduction of the quality of education, reduction in contact hours, and overcrowding.

In order to stop practising the double-track system, he stated that they had to initiate analytic-based operations and efficient procedures that constituted national infrastructure schemes, warranting that the government would upgrade and better infrastructure at the TVET institutions and many more of the Senior High School aspects.

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