44 Maths teachers trained

Page 17
March 5, 2008

A two-week workshop for 44 Mathematics teachers from the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) has ended at the Meagasa Mathematics Academy at Lashibi.
The participants were taken through the NVTI mathematics syllabus by the Founder and Executive Director of Meagasa Mathematics Academy, Prof Sitsofe E. Anku.
In his address at the closing ceremony, Prof Anku urged the participants to make students see the relationship between mathematics and real life.
He said they should make the teaching of the subject interesting and enjoyable to students, adding that they should also break the mental barrier that surrounded mathematics.
The Director of the NVTI, Mr S.B. Amponsah, congratulated the participants and urged them to go to their individual schools to impart the knowledge they had acquired.
He said the participants should not let the knowledge and certificates they had acquired keep them away from those who did not have the opportunity to attend the workshop; rather they should let their approach to the teaching of mathematics in the classroom be the determining factor.
He said many were those in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) sub-sector who did not see their way clear as there had been major changes in such areas as articulation, course, content and testable subjects.
Mr Amponsah said the training was part of the changes that had taken place and indicated that with the changes, vocational trainees would spend four years in school instead of three years.
“The new direction calls for a review of curriculum and the active participation of the industry in the TVET delivery,” he said, adding that the NVTI was collaborating with the Danish Hairdressers and Beauticians Association and the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association to produce a syllabus for use by hairdressers and beauticians in the country.
Under the new arrangements, he said, on-the-job training was going to form an integral part of the training for all NVTIs, and that as a result of the industry’s inability to absorb all the trainees, there was a programme to train master craftsmen who would in turn absorb the trainees for training in the various trade areas.
The workshop prefect, Mr Kodzo Baku, said the workshop went beyond the mere training of instructors to the reawakening of the key behavioural factors enhancing teachers’ productivity and role in the drive for mathematics as an essential tool for development.