Five out of the 10 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools built across the country have started operation, the Acting Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Eric Nkansah, has disclosed.
Those, he said, included the ones at Bosomtwe, Diasu, Awaso, and Akrodie, which seek to produce a critical mass of assertive and employable youth to spur our socio-economic transformation.
“These state-of-the-art boarding schools will attract children from all parts of the country. They are specially built STEM senior high schools with 12 laboratories each and fitted with Promethean boards, which promise to be one of the best in the world,” he noted.
Dr Nkansah was speaking during the 70th-anniversary celebration of the St Louis Senior High School in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region.
He said over the last six years, the government has initiated several cutting-edge reforms and policies, aimed at improving the education standards and equipping learners with 21st Century skills required to participate fully in the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Dr Nkansah said it was instructive to note that only about 12 per cent of SHS students were currently enrolled in the sciences.
“This level of science enrolment will not create sufficient pipeline of students required to meet the 60:40 science-humanities ratio target envisaged by our Education Strategic Plan (ESP 2018-2030),” he emphasised.
In addressing this challenge, he said, the government was expanding and retooling Science Resource Centres of some existing senior high schools to improve the Science enrolment and the quality of instruction.
