Some SHSs To Begin Aviation And Aerospace Courses – Education Minister
The Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has disclosed that about 12 Senior High Schools(SHSs) will offer courses in aviation and aerospace in the next academic year.
According to the minister, the initiative forms part of efforts to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the country to enable Ghanaian students to compete in the fourth industrial revolution.
“Next year, there are about 12 schools that will be offering aviation and aerospace courses and in their case, it is not going to be a club but an academic programme,” he stated.
Dr. Adutwum made the announcement at the Afia Kobi Ampem Girls Senior High School in Kumasi, which is credited as the first SHS in Ghana to have developed a miniature aeroplane as part of its engineering exploits.
The Minister was in the school to encourage the girls who had formed an engineering club to work hard and make a mark in the field of engineering while positioning themselves to further their education abroad.
He said the Ministry was considering converting the school into a STEM school to train more girls in the sciences for accelerated national development from all spheres.
“This school is going to be transformed into a STEM school. They are doing some great things in the field of aviation and aerospace as pioneers at this level,” the Minister noted.
“We are going to provide them a library so that they can do just that and I have no doubt in my mind that five years from now this school will be one of the best in the country,” he observed.
Dr. Adutwum explained that students would take courses in addition to physics, chemistry and advanced mathematics, adding that the decision to introduce aviation and aerospace courses was inspired by Afia Kobi Girls SHS.
He said the government was committed to expanding facilities in the school to enhance academic work, adding that it had already been provided with well-equipped science laboratories.
The students, he said, were poised to change the history of Ghana through STEM education considering the great things they were doing through the engineering club.
He mentioned that “the Education Ministry had every reason to change the school to become more STEM-focused, reiterating that a STEM lab would be provided to enable them to do more robotics as well as artificial intelligence-based projects.