The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) has engaged the National House of Chiefs on the proposed curriculum for Senior High Schools (SHS).
The meeting was to brief the House on the new curriculum and receive inputs from the House before submitting the final document to Cabinet.
The Council is currently reviewing the school curriculum to respond to a national priority of shifting the structure and content of the education system from merely passing examinations to building character, nurturing values and raising literate, confident and engaged citizens.
It has already put out the Standards-Based Curriculum (SBC) for the basic level and has also concluded the curriculum for SHS, which would soon be submitted to Cabinet after the stakeholder engagements.
The Director General of the NaCCA, Prof. Edward Appiah, stated in a presentation that the development of Senior High School (SHS) curricula is essential for producing a skilled workforce that is prepared to support Ghana’s development and to fully utilize the potential of the expanding youth population in light of the demographic transition the nation is currently going through.
“And so our mandate is to improve teaching and learning using science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the pre-tertiary level,” he noted.
Prof. Appiah indicated that the STEM concept had been integrated into the new curriculum from kindergarten to the pre-tertiary level as part of efforts to promote STEM education in Ghana.
According to Prof. Appiah, the overarching objective is to fulfil Sustainable Development Goal 4 by upholding the nation’s essential values of truth, honesty, diversity, equity, discipline, self-directed learning, self-confidence, flexibility and resourcefulness.
Prof. Appiah said the expected results of SHS graduates, are outlined under the following headings: communication, gender equality and social inclusion, learning for life, local and global citizenship, system thinking and anticipatory competency, normative and strategic competency, collaboration competency, critical thinking, self-awareness, and integrated problem-solving competency.
On his part, Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, Sefwi Anwiasohene and President of the National House of Chiefs commended NaCCA for seeking the views of traditional leaders, saying that the consultation would go a long way to shape the lives of students.
He said education is the key to the nation’s development, so it is important to create a revised curriculum that is job-focused and supports those who are gifted and talented to realize their full potential.
Dzifa Hukporti, ISD
