Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, Ghana’s minister of education, has voiced concerns about the manner in which students are taught and learned in classrooms across the continent of Africa.
He saw that students are not taught in a way that encourages critical thought and questioning.
This condition, he claimed, cannot guarantee the 21st Century development that is required at a time when others are formulating novel concepts to create.
These remarks were made by Dr. Adutwum on September 22 during the “Transforming Education” Summit at the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations.
The Bosomtwe Member of Parliament said “I go to schools upon schools and I speak with the students, when I finish speaking with them I will ask, do you have a question for me? And no hand goes up. A hand is yet to go up in all my encounters in Ghanaian classrooms.
“We have tamed the children, we just want them to write down what we tell them, at the day of exam they should put down what we have told them and say, you you are the best student the country has seen.
“That kind of education system will not transform Ghana that kind of education system is not going to give us the critical thinking individuals especially since we are in the 21st Century.”
He added “You can’t memorize your way out of poverty but you can critically think and innovate out of poverty.
“So Ghana schools, African schools have to begin to take serious look at what I will call assertive curriculum, a curriculum that empowers the African African child to ask questions and challenge the status quo.”
