Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo has emphasized on the need for Ghanaian education to prioritize critical thinking and creativity.
She was speaking on the Springboard show on 2nd April, 2023.
On the show, she revealed that there is the need for universities to train critical thinkers, technologically adept and humane students.
According to the Vice-Chancellor, it is high time there was a shift from rote learning to learning to think critically.
“Students must be trained to critically analyse information from diverse sources. We must direct them to look for information and critically engage with that. Rote learning hasn’t helped us. We need to shift, and the shift needs to start right from the basic level through to secondary education.”
The Vice-Chancellor also pointed out that for Ghana to attain world class education standards, there is the need to encourage creativity.
She also added that punishments for simple mistakes in school should be discouraged.
“We need to create avenues for students to explore their creative sides, like music, art and performance. We tend to focus too much on academic side of things and very often we are actually testing how much students can remember. It is a bad thing for students to be punished for getting things wrong and this makes them hate school.”
The Vice-Chancellor also noted that students can excel in their creative sides if the needed attention is given to providing creative avenues.
“These people have creative sides that if we provided the environment for them and the needed support, they would excel once we allow their creative sides to thrive.”
She added that teachers are pivotal in education and that much attention should be given to the training of teachers.
“We need to look at the training of our teachers at all levels, especially at the lower levels. Teachers play a critical role in shaping and moulding the knowledge systems of our children. And so we need to look at how we are training the teachers, we need to look at the way we teach in class, get to be more interactive and use resources.”
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Story by | Akwasi Gyamfi | univers.ug.edu.gh
