The Ghana Education Service (GES) is set to fully roll out the new standard-based curriculum for Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country, come September this year, which marks the new academic year.
The curriculum aims to ensure that all learners achieve their potential by equipping them with 21st century skills, competencies, character qualities and shared Ghanaian values, which ultimately will prepare learners to live a responsible adult life, further their education and enter the world of work.
The new Senior High School Curriculum will focus on social, emotional and behavioural issues, as well as values, making room for education to empower individuals and positively contribute to society.
Unlike the old curriculum, where Arts students were not permitted to learn major aspects of Science, the new curriculum removes such barriers, providing SHS students with more comprehensive educational opportunities.
The new curriculum will further allow students to choose a minimum of seven and a maximum of nine subjects, depending on their strengths, while talented students can choose to take more than nine subjects.
The new curriculum was developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) for Senior High School (SHS), Senior High Technical School (SHTS) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Curriculum.
The curriculum has been designed for grammar, STEM, and technical schools across the country and is intended to enable students to pursue any course of their choice at the tertiary level without limitations.
This came to light during the commemoration of this year’s International Youth Day, which was under the theme: “merging values and digitalisation, a prerequisite for youth and national development” at the Okuapemman Senior High School (SHS) on Monday.
The ceremony was attended by other sister schools, such as Mamfe Methodist Girls, Presby Senior High School, Benkum Senior High School, Mampong School for the Deaf, and Accra Academy.
To mark International Youth Day, Ghana Education Service (GES) partnered with T-TEL, Honour Ghana, Lead for Ghana, and NUGS to have a one-day seminar for senior high school learners to share on the secondary education reform and the development of the National Handbook on Values.
Speaking with the media on the sidelines, Professor Jonathan Fletcher, a Curriculum Key Advisor, hinted that the reform is a bold commitment to fully engage the Ghanaian youth and seek their collective and continuous buy-in to ensure the effective implementation of the new curriculum.
Prof. Fletcher, who is also the Founding Dean of the School of Education and Leadership, University of Ghana, continued that it would ensure that young people understand and embody the core values such as honesty, respect, responsibility, and self-confidence into their daily lives and academic activities.
The University of Ghana Professor stated that this is the first time that Ghana has developed a SHS curriculum that focusses on shared national values, attempting to educate a generation of Ghanaian youth who are proud of the country and can contribute effectively to its development.
“Recognising this, a Handbook on National Values is being written in conjunction with the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) for use across all Senior High Schools (SHSs), Senior High Secondary Technical School (SHTSs), and STEM schools,” he stressed.
The Founding Dean at the University of Ghana School of Education and Leadership disclosed that this handbook will prioritise learner-centered and practical approaches to complement classroom teachings and foster self-learning skills.
The agencies leading the development of this handbook on values are the Ghana Education Service (GES) and NaCCA, with support from NUGS, Lead for Ghana, Honour Ghana and Transforming Teaching, Education & Learning (T-TEL) in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation.
On the availability of teaching and learning materials for the curriculum, Prof. Fletcher assured Ghanaians, particularly the main actors of the new curriculum, of the availability of materials for smooth implementation.
Dr. Emmanuel Ankrah Odame, Founder and Executive Director of Honour Ghana, a non-governmental organization, that seeks to promote the culture of honour, cried over the spate of corruption in the country.
The Executive Director of Honour Ghana, who doubles as the technical advisor and lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School, attributed the situation to the absence of cultural values that underpinned the development of every society.
To him, these values outline the acceptable behaviours we need to exhibit to peacefully live with our friends, families, and the society in which Ghana is not an exception.
He therefore called on Ghanaians to reset on a path of restoring the lost glory of the days where cultural values were like second nature, leading to a holistic development of the country.
In his keynote address, the Deputy Eastern Regional Director of Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Benjamin Naih, charged the youth, especially students across the country, to intentionally uphold the values of culture.
He indicated that, despite digitalization being the game changer in the 21st century, the full potentials of it could be hugely challenged when it is not merged with values that defined the rich cultural and traditional constructs of Ghanaians.
