The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) is advocating for a reduction in the number of subjects studied in basic schools.
According to the association, the number of subjects pupils are made to study “are too much,” and this significantly limits the pupils’ ability to study effectively.
Vice-President of NAGRAT, Eric Angel Karbonu on Citi FM’s Big Issue, said pupils in the country’s primary schools “have limited contact with literacy and numeracy,” which he said are the “fundamentals and the basis for understanding other subjects.”
“I agree with people who say that the number of subjects we do in the basic schools is too much. How many periods are allotted to reading on the kids’ timetable from class 1 to class 6?” he asked.
Karbonu explained that “when you bring a lot of specific subjects, it reduces your contact time with literacy and numeracy at the basic level.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”D3NPzvBnIt7dvFdEMz5FDzJP8V2ESV6K”]The country’s educational sector has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks following the news that only 28.11 per cent of students who sat the May/June 2014 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) made grades A1 to C6 in six of the eight subjects.
A report carried out by the Assessment Services Unit (ASU) commissioned by the Ghana Education Service (GES) also revealed that 98 percent of primary two pupils in basic schools can neither read nor understand English or any Ghanaian language properly.
The NAGRAT vice-president admitted that Ghana’s educational sector is facing serious challenges saying, “it is a great concern…it is quite a very worrying situation.”
He was of the opinion that priority should be given to equipping pupils with literacy and numeracy which will “strengthen them to understand concepts in other subjects.”
Karbonu further recommended that a lot of time should be allotted to improving pupils’ ability to read which will consequently improve education standards in the country.
“If kids do not get their reading skills at the early stage, they are lost in the race of studying. In reading class, you need to have time and it will have to occur very frequently for the children to come to terms with the various words.”
Mr. Karbonu however blamed the size of the classes for the decline in the quality of education in the country adding that teachers are unable to identify and correct individual mistakes in the pronunciation of words in classes with a large number of pupils.
“Teachers have difficulty coming to terms with the specific and special needs of students in a huge class. This is very normal in urban areas.
When you have a large class, everybody recites the word in unison you will not be able to individually identify challenges and correct them,” he explained.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana