Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Adutwum
Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, says one of the government's priorities in education is to make Ghana the leader in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in the world.
"We want Ghana to be the leader in STEM Education in Africa and the World. It's as simple as that. We are not going to take a second spot to any country," he said.
He said the government was working to make STEM Education lead Ghana's transformation and development in the fourth industrial revolution.
The Minister said this when a team of consultants presented findings of a research to him on practical stem education in Ghana, barriers and opportunities and its design and implementation.
The reports, facilitated by DreamOval Foundation, which uses education and technology to bridge the development gap, are expected to help the government promote STEM education through policy formulation and implementation.
Being piloted for three years, starting in 2021, the STEM education together with the reports are designed to improve the delivery of practical learning, specifically among Junior High School pupils in Accra and Kumasi.
Dr. Adutwum commended the work of the team and said the Ministry was building STEM centres in existing high schools and with a structured STEM programme for the pupils to do exploits.
Mr. Francis Ahene-Affoh, Coordinator, Ghana Science and Tech Explorer Prize (GSTEP), who led the team, said the programme's success depended on collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
He said the two reports contained a lot of ideas and solutions that could help drive the STEM agenda among young people in Ghana.
"...We are focused currently on these two regions, but we intend to scale it across the entire country so that every child, everywhere in this country, will benefit," the Coordinator said.
He urged the pupils to understand and apply the lessons from the programme in their daily lives to solve problems in communities.