352
Mr. George Akom, a native of the Sekyere Afram Plains District (SAPD), with the district capital at Drobonso in the Ashanti region has organized district mock examinations for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates in the entire district. The Mock which was organized for the various schools in the district was to prepare the BECE candidates towards the upcoming nation- wide examinations to commence in the month of October 2022. The Mock was a standard test which was meant to test for the readiness and the level of understanding in the various subjects to be written during the main examinations. It was expected that the performance by the candidates after the mock examination would create an opportunity for remedial lessons for them to improve on their performance for better results in the BECE.
Mr. Akom who has been supporting the youth of the district in many diverse ways indicated that, education has been the surest means to empower people, and for that reason, must be given the needed attention at all levels. He added that, with the right education, the youth of the country would be better shaped to support the developmental programs and policies through critical and innovative thinking.
He emphasized that Sekyere Afram Plains District is under developed and lacked many educational resources, which places the pupils at very disadvantage situations when it comes to performance in the BECE for them to compete with their peers in the other districts for admission into the senior high schools. He continued that, despite all the challenges facing the district in terms of inadequate educational resources, the district education directorate has been doing its best to improve on the pass rate every year for many of the pupils to transition into senior high, technical and vocational schools in the country.
Mr. George Akom who is an educationist and a Senior Assistant Registrar of the Ghana Communication Technology University admonished that, he had seen education to be an area that could transform the nation by building the relevant human capital for our social- economic needs. He iterated that, we need to lay a solid foundation at the basic level of our education for learners to grasp concepts in early stages of learning. He intimated that, although we are in the global world, it has become necessary for our country to do comprehensive needs assessment of our learning outcomes in line with the current socio-economic dynamics of the world to direct our educational policies and programs. He admitted that funding of education is very expensive and has been a major challenge for most African countries, especially in the areas of Science, Technology Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education. He stressed that STEM education has become relevant as a gateway to provide an enabling environment for engineering, technology, entrepreneurship and private sector growth of every nation, therefore, our country must achieve its STEM education agenda by providing pillars and avenues to create a STEM culture, empower STEM teachers, and integrate business and education, and ensure high quality STEM experiences. He said that, to achieve this STEM agenda, we need to focus on the 3-P Learning concept which is emphasized on problem-, project-, and place-based learning.
He mentioned that funding has been a major challenge for quality education and must be addressed in a more innovative way by looking at the educational funding mix critically, especially at the tertiary level.
Mr. Akom stated that Alumni Groupings or Associations has become another innovative area that could provide educational support at all levels of our education which must be explored very well. At least, anyone who has had formal education would have benefited from his or her alma mater one way the other, especially at the lower of levels of education. “We hardly see support from alumni to the basic level where all the basic knowledge of individuals growth on the educational ladder emanated from”, Mr. Akom quizzed.
He therefore called on individuals, alumni groups, and philanthropist to support educational institutions, especially alma mater basic schools in their various communities which have been facing internally generated funds problems over the years, by so doing would provide long term benefits to the pupils, the schools, the communities and even the nation at large.
In a related development, Mr. Akom was recently donated sports equipment to support the organisation of Annual Inter-Schools Sporting Festival for the district which was held at Drobonso as his contribution to sports development, and as a means of unearthing talents for future development.
Mr. George Akom who is also the General Secretary of Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED), has been a renowned person who has contributed to national discussion in the areas of governance, education, e-government and information systems on many platforms including Television, radio, print media and other fora also as a resource person. He has taught in many schools across the various level of education and has always advocated for the using of education a means of solving our recurring problems in the country.
