About 1,000 basic schools have been selected across the country to benefit from practical science education support projects.
The initiative was birthed by the Elsie Effah Kaufmann Foundation (EEKF) in partnership with Dext Technologies Limited, and is aimed at providing science teachers of these selected schools with the knowledge of using basic scientific-practical sets and equipment designed by Dext technologies for academics.
The EEKF seeks to empower and equip both educators and learners with the necessary tools and resources to make the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) more effective to help bridge the current deficit in related programmes in the country.
The foundation is heavily geared toward four main targets that will best impact everyone’s life -students, teachers, industry, and the community.
Under the students’ agenda, the initiative seeks to inspire students to be critical thinkers and seekers of solutions to community problems. The teachers’ angle would equip teachers with the necessary skills and training on practical STEM teaching methods.
The industry perspective seeks to connect and facilitate collaborations between industry and academia, while the community aspect would educate and sensitise communities on the relevance of practical STEM education.
Deputy Minister for Education in charge of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Gifty Twum Ampofo, in her address at the EEKF launch at the University of Ghana campus, indicated that STEM has the capacity of unlocking the full potential of the Ghanaian youth for a solution-oriented leadership, hence, the need to invest and train them through such innovative programmes.
“STEM education is top on the agenda of this government, with policies being put in place to increase to sciences to humanity courses ratio in our tertiary institutions to at least 40:60 by the year 2030. But to achieve that, the foundation which is basic level education must be strengthened with practical STEM initiatives to develop the interest of kids at an early stage,” she said.
She therefore commended the EEKF for the initiative, and called for corporate collaboration with the government to implement more of such STEM initiatives in schools across the various levels.
The Founder of EEKF, Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, who is a Biomedical Engineer and Academic, as well as the current Quiz Mistress for the National Science and Math Quiz (NSMQ), indicated that as an advocate of STEM education, she has realised that beyond the talks and education, she needs to venture into the space by providing practical solutions to assist the future generation, hence, the establishment of the foundation.
She took the guests at the project launch through a series of practical lessons on bringing science down to the level of the ordinary person with a demonstration on producing power. The guests were excited to learn a simple way of generating power.
She explained that if children are made to carry out such simple but interesting scientific activities from such basic levels, their interest would be generated and built upon to complicated levels as learning advances.
Inspector-General of the National Schools Inspectorate Authority, Dr. Haggar Hilda Ampadu, on her part, stated that her office was ever ready to collaborate with the EEKF to promote STEM education in the country.
Chairperson of the event and General Manager of Citi FM/TV, Bernard Avle, commended Prof. Effah for the initiative, and expressed that he is optimistic the foundation would go a long way to increase STEM coverage in the country, especially among the basic schools, as the experience and competence of the founder is not in any doubt.