Teachers undergo training on use of science equipment

Some sixty-eight science teachers and technicians from 17 Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Central and Western Regions are undergoing a capacity-building session on the use of newly procured modern science equipment and chemicals for selected SHSs in the country.

The two-day workshop, sponsored by Omega Compu Systems Engineering Ghana Limited and hosted by the Wesley Girls SHS in Cape Coast, was aimed at equipping the teachers with the relevant skills to improve teaching outcomes based on practical learning.

The exercise also fell within the broader agenda of government to prioritise and improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in secondary schools.

The participants were expected to train their colleagues in their respective schools, as well as those from other Senior and Junior High Schools within their zones after the training.

Already, about 208 science teachers and technicians from 52 schools in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta Regions have benefitted from the exercise, which is targeting to train 690 participants across the country by March 17 this year.

Opening the session, Madam Martha Owusu Agyemang, the Central Regional Education Director, welcomed the initiative as a “positive move” in the face of the recent drop in performance of science in Central Region schools, blaming it on a multiplicity of factors including the lack of laboratory resources and training.

“The teachers are therefore being equipped, resourced and trained and we pray that there will improvement in the teaching and learning of science and the outcomes also, we will see improvement and that makes me very happy,” she noted.

She said the Directorate would embark on occasional follow ups after the training to make sure teachers and technicians were putting their knowledge into practice.

Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, Chair of the Teacher Education in Sub Sahara Africa, urged the trainees to make commitment and discipline their guiding principles, saying “your primary concern should be how you can develop your students.”

According to the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana could not do without science, technology, and innovation because that was the basis of development of every advanced country.

“The problem is that science is not being taught as a practical manifestation in the lives of the people. If we have the equipment and we do not have the people who can man them, it is a waste of money for the government,” he intimated.

“If we give practical experience to our students then we can make progress in that direction,” he added.

Professor Anamuah-Mensah observed that the world was changing fast, and this could only be experienced if the teachers gave out their best.

Mrs Olivia Serwaa Opare, the Director of Science Education at the Ghana Education Service (GES), explained that the distribution of the equipment and its attendant training sessions were for schools which lacked them, stressing that majority of schools were already well-resourced and equipped.

She further indicated that the equipment were not meant for only the hosting schools, but also all adjoining schools, including Primary and JHS.

“JHS are not well resourced and so they do not do practical learning. And so, these materials have also come to support our primary and JHS,” she stressed.

Mrs Opare expressed gratitude to the sponsors of the workshop for their support.

For his part, Dr Asare Yeboah, National Coordinator, ‘Training for Teachers on use of Science Equipment,’ observed that past results in science suggested that the country needed to do more to promote STEM.

He further urged the beneficiary schools to take good care of equipment and keep their laboratories always tidied up.

“This is the first phase and we can only move to the second phase when we have achieved results. We want you to take good care of them,” he stated.

While thanking government for the equipment, he appealed for more to equip other schools lacking the resources.

One of the trainees, Mr Benjamin Sarfo Apaw, a biology teacher of the Assin Manso SHS, observed that their laboratories had been furnished with equipment, but they had no idea on their proper usage.

“We thank the coordinators for this training, which will equip us with the knowledge on how to use the things in our laboratories.” he added.

Mr Salifu Ibrahim, a biology teacher, also described the workshop as a revelation, indicating that science studies in his area had been theoretical.