Government will prioritise STEM education for upper primary pupils – Education Minister

In a bid to enhance global competitiveness, pupils from Upper Primary Four to Senior High will soon embark on intensive studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, commonly known as STEM.

The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, who made the announcement on April 4, revealed that the government is allocating significant funding to ensure the success of this initiative.

He said this move aims to equip students with the skills needed to thrive in the ever-evolving global job market.

Under the new education reform, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—STEM—are at the forefront of shaping the future of education in Ghana.

In 2024, the government secured over 60 million dollars in funding from the World Bank to roll out STEM education nationwide. That same year, several Senior High Schools engaged in STEM successfully innovated in robotics, leading Ghana to victory at the Pan African Robotics Competition.

Education experts have since called for the integration of robotics into the STEM curriculum, a recommendation that is gaining traction.

In a move to strengthen this initiative, the Ministry of Education has met with the National Coordinator of Robotics. The discussions focused on establishing a robust robotics framework to make Ghanaian students more competitive globally.

Current data from the World Bank suggests that within the next few years, 50% of jobs could be replaced by robotics.

Ben Amoako, the National Robotics Coordinator, emphasized the importance of incorporating robotics into Ghana’s education system.

“We also have an organization called Rant Academy in the UK who are also helping in entrepreneurship training where students will not only come out of school looking for jobs but will be able to use the skills they have to create or pitch something innovative so that they can start working with that and that training has been going on for a while,” he said.

The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, also confirmed that the government has secured adequate funding to push robotics as part of STEM education.

“We agree that the future is about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education. We ourselves will revolutionize STEM education in the coming years. Infact, we are currently engaged with the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Education Trust Fund and the Ministry of Education to deploy STEM sets to Upper Primary Four and Six, which should begin next academic year subject to lawful procurement and acceptable advice by the Ghana Education Service,” he stated.

He was quick to caution against the over-reliance on robotics, warning that it could lead to students becoming lazy learners.

“As a matter of policy, government will support the introduction of AI, but cautiously we need to guard against AI producing lazy learners in our country, that the adoption of improved technology should not be at the peril of hard work.

“As a country, we need to train and produce persons who are employable. I believe that the pedagogy has to change and change at all levels of our education, so that we can produce not necessarily for industry and commerce, but they may be employable,” he said.

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