OWOP withdrawn from basic schools effective next academic year

Effective the 2024–2025 academic year, NaCCA’s Our World and Our People” (OWOP) for basic schools will not be studied as the subject has been withdrawn. Effective implementation starts in the coming academic year.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) requested the axing of the curriculum through the

Parliamentary Select Committee on Education. This move is in line with Article 103 of the 1992 Constitution and Order 250 of the Standing Orders of Parliament, according to NaCCA.

The call for the OWOP curriculum to be removed from basic schools by NaCCA was given a boost by the Ghana Publishers Association (GPA) on June 21, 2024.

According to extensive research and discussion with stakeholders on the axing of the OWOP curriculum, NaCCA decided against calling for its removal. This was made public by Mr. Mathew Owusu, Deputy Director-General of Technical Services. He added that the committee in charge of the investigations issued a road map to guide the withdrawal of the curriculum and the associated approved textbooks.

Having gotten approval for the removal, the effective academic year for the implementation is from the 2024–2025 academic year to the 2025–2026 academic year.

However, the removal of the subjects will not be instant, as the OWOP textbook will continue to be used as supplementary reading material even after the 2025–2026 academic year.

READ: Third-Term Exam Questions and Answers Out

The Our World and Our People” (OWOP) subject was one of the newly introduced subjects when NaCCA introduced the Common Core Curriculum in 2019 for learners in KG1 to Basic 6. The Our World and Our People” (OWOP) subject has been studied for at least five years.

READ: NaCCA to withdraw “OWOP” from Standards-Base

What the axing of OWOP means is that publishers who invested huge capital into these books will have to shelve such materials since schools will not recommend such books for their learners in the 2024–2025 academic year, even though NaCCA has indicated the books will serve as supplementary readers.