Segment: I Forced WAEC to Change - 33 Schools Now Test Critical Thinking

0:00When the school year hits full speed, don't let dinner fall behind. Make the week easier with good ranchers. Good ranchers delivers high quality 100% American beef, chicken, pork, and more straight to your door. So your freezer is stocked before the chaos starts. With good ranchers in your freezer, dinner is already halfway done. Everything arrives vacuum sealed and frozen, ready for burgers, chicken, steaks, or an easy family favorite on a packed night. When the school year speeds up, good ranchers keeps dinner one step ahead. Visit goodranchors.com now and stock your freezer before the school week's grambles starts. Good ranchers, one less dinner decision all week long. The country wants critical thinking, yes, but you don't want critical thinking in your exams because you are a heck. I said no, you can't take the lead for the country. The country should tell you what to assess the students on. So they took it back. Two weeks time, they brought it back and they had changed it and now satisfied. You call 40% of the questions were on critical thinking, which was synthesis,

1:00valuation, and creating. Then it gets to Wasey. Wasey is not just Ghana. BEC is just Ghana. So you can tell them what to do. Okay. When it comes to Wasey, it's not just Ghana. It's the whole West African. So I raised the issue with the other West African ministers with them finished the conversation. I came back to Ghana, poor white Ghana, I said, we've changed. We are changing our high school curriculum and I want to change in terms of your exams because you see the bottom line is this. If the exam do not change, teachers will not change what they are teaching. If I'm a teacher, they work the other way around with the curriculum. Yes, because you see generally there's something in education called curriculum instruction and assessment. They designed the curriculum, which is like the syllabus, what you wanted to learn to learn. Then you extract them on it and after that to test them. Okay. So we call it CIA.

2:04So not American CIA. Of course CIA. So most people think that, oh, just do the curriculum. Just do the instruction after that, do the assessment and you are done. But invariably, the assessment would determine what people teach. They would take some of the tens outside the curriculum because it doesn't come on the test. So if you are a nation that wants to bring transformational, you first of all look at your assessment and you direct how you want the test to be, then everybody is going to scramble and teacher. By invariably, we don't look at it that way. So, in our assessment, comment last assessment should be first. We have to tell the country and tell the teachers that we want you to be able to do this. Then you walk your way back across also how they are going to do it. So invariably, we haven't reversed. And therefore, we are not getting the critical thinking. Right.

3:04And invariably, without critical thinking, they were in trouble. So if you don't improve the quality by bringing our critical thinking in your education system, every chart will go to school and because they are memorizing, they are not creating anything. But that's what we've been seeing for years. And now it's changing. Why is it changing? This year, for the first time in the history of our nation, Tetra 3 high schools are piloting their critical thinking. Wassy. And that was instigated by us. Of course. Tetra 3 of them. And the questions are different. The funny thing is that when you enter the schools, I want to listen to girls. They are one of the schools. And the children will tell you that our questions are going to be at the critical thinking level. Our questions are coming from level 3 and 4 of the Web's death of knowledge. They know all that. So everything they are studying is to improve their thinking so that they can answer the questions. In those kind of exams,

4:06you don't repeat questions that much. Right. Right. So the teachers look at how we can improve the critical thinking skills of the system. Because the exam that is coming is not something that you can memorize and write. Tetra 3 schools have done it. And you know what is happening? And Nigeria now wants to do it. Say hello, wants to do it. Liberia wants to do it. They for come together to learn about how they are the exam. How they can test with Ghana. And as a result, we introduce new global level high school courses. Now we have biomedical science been taught in high school. Engineering sciences been taught in high schools. Robotics been taught in high schools. Computer science advanced computer been taught in high schools. Public schools. Public high schools. So the new STEM schools like Abu Musso, Passenpé, Daba, all, all these schools are doing all these subjects. Aviation and aeronautical science like we're going to roll out to the other

5:09schools. The new schools are doing it but so are the existing schools. They were offered the chance to select a STEM course for their students. So presexuals doing engineering science. Right. Equal quality. Prempedial doing robotics as a course because they will go abroad and win competitions in robotics but it will show up on their transcript because it is not offered as a course in their school. And now it has changed. Their schools in remote places where they are doing some of the STEM courses. Go to go also. I have for my, they are doing aviation. You know this is all well and good but the problem is that there's also some people in schools where we have seen on the internet where computer has been drawn on the board. That's why we like B STEM. I know this new government also will rely on C, which is good. So that STEM will not just be a high school thing to also be a business school thing. And they've rolled them out. In remote communities you have to do, you have to be able to do a mobile app. You see that the good news is that something is being done. We just have to continue

6:15but invariably most gannians then nothing is happening. It's a basket case. Well, I guess because if they can't see it at the lower level, then it's there. You see that thing is this. We have them with distributed equipment when number of basic schools are crossing. Some people feel like, look, even some of these get fund and it's only given to privileged people within the parties and the government. There's so much hopelessness that has led to helplessness and people think nothing good can happen in Ghana. Until they hear that, Ghanian students are now studying that are not being studying in American schools. When they see a cross-term academy and they live in America, they are saying to ah, my neighborhood school is not like this. This is better than my neighborhood school in New Jersey. So many great things are happening. But the challenge you have is the lack of opportunity for continuity. So I would do this great things, live it for years. I don't know what's going to

7:18happen. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why is it going to happen in all the time? We are not holding the politicians to account. Let's me tell you. Let's me tell you. I've been in politics. What was the country expecting from me as Minister for Education? Maybe listen. All that they wanted me to do is to make sure our high teachers and pay them on time. So every year we're hiring 20,000 teachers. The last two years, they've done about 7,000, which is so unfortunate. 30,000 classrooms are without teachers, because we have refused to hire teachers the last two years. That optimum that is needed. So if I hire teachers, people will press me, right? So we default to the minimum invariably. Politicians are held to account for the minimum that they do. But if you happen to be

8:18Dr. Editumann, you're working the education system, you know how you can change your country, and your president gives you the free hand to do it. You want to do it. You want to do what people never expected to be done. No ganya was expecting to see a class them Academy. Nobody was expecting to see some of the things transforming or suppress. Also, press second, so, press. Who was actually me from Osu? That that school should change. Who was actually me, that same bana bass, to be transformed? If you go and see how transformed is going to change their uniform, so that they can think differently. I gave a donation to the school to take their children on a third trip to Legon for them to see university for the first time coming out of Osu. Let's talk about the skills required to get jobs done. In comparison to the degrees and the qualifications people hold from institutions in the country. Because most of the time,

9:19you get people who come out. As a matter of fact, there was a young chap I worked with in London, in my business. And when he came in, he had studied computer science. He didn't know what my school was. He was clueless. Why? You see that the issue you're going to have is that the sub-scales is not integrated into the curriculum the way it should be. So the new high school curriculum, which we did with the support of MasterCard Foundation, they provided funds for the development of the curriculum, began to incorporate the sub-scales, the communication skills, critical thinking skills, collaboration skills, the forces into the curriculum. What placement? What placement? Yeah, so so bottom line is this. You know that schools in the US at a high school level do intention. And the new curriculum that we brought, we required and expected intentions.

10:22So when the schools get their new buses, the premise was that now you can go to a company by medical science. They were working with tribal university here. In a clinic, the high school students were doing that so that they can get a house on experience coming out of high school at a university level. And one of the things that I've seen done, which Ghana we need to do and when we did a high school reform, the next phase was university reform. But you can't do university reform the same way you do high school. High school principals come together, you tell them this is where the country is going, they're going to do it, right? Universities you have to institute a grant program free money and tell the university. This is where we are going. Everyone who wants to go in this direction, this is money for you. That's how you change university education. It's not directly people who are writing on your high horse, you are the mini stuff

11:23for education. Ghanaian universities are going to do this. It will not be done. I'll give you an example what I did with grants. You see living in America and seeing that there are situations where some students wanted to do more of elective science courses. Maybe at the school they went to the equivalent, but they get to the university and they get a second chance to reconsider and do science there and go and do medicine or do engineering. But Ghana, what was happening in this country after high school, dead end. If you didn't do science, never dream of becoming an engineer unless you go to UK or you go to America. That's the way you're going to get a second chance. You may be very talented, but the high school that you went to didn't have science lab. So you didn't do science. Right. And that is it. I went to a high school. Maybe that's what I have a source for for these students. I went to jatship proms in their high school for all level. We didn't have science lab. So none of us could do science. And that is it. It's done. You never

12:27be an engineer. You never be a doctor if you're stating Ghana. So when I became a minister, what I saw was a simple thing. I saw that if they saw our students were in America, they can become engineers and probably they'll be the best engineers because they are more imaginative and creative. Engineering came from drawing, but those who can draw are the ones who say you will never be an engineer if you state if you're staying. I'm not saying what are down the science requirement. I'm not saying what are down the mathematics requirement. I'm just saying if after graduating from high school with very good test scores, the child feels like, I wish I had done science. Right. Give him one year to come. Pre-engineering. Music, food, art. These things define and unite us. And they come in colors that breathe culture. Colors that connect us with their variety and richness. You'll find that same variety in Balsvar Ultra paints. Great coverage and durability starting at 29.98 per gallon.

13:30Enjoy everyday protection against scuffs and wear with a smooth, washable finish. We're made of colors. And with Balsvar Ultra, you can reflect that pride of culture you have inside. On every wall of your home, available at Lowe's.