UEW Researchers with MPA Present Country Report on GSP to Minister of Education
A team of researchers from the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), in association with the Millennium Promise Alliance (MPA), has presented a country-level research report on compliance to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the Global School Project (GSP) through the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, to the United Nations (UN). The occasion was also used to present to the Minister his letter of credence inviting him to serve on the high-level UN Advisory Board for Mission 4.7.
The presentation took place at a stakeholder meeting at the Conference Room of the Ministry of Education, Accra, on Friday, 23rd July, 2021.
Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum (left)
Addressing the gathering, the Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, commended MPA and the technical Team from UEW for a great job done and hoped that the partnership between them will inspire the kind of educational transformation that will make Ghana a beckon the world will admire and look up to in the educational transformation space.
He was optimistic that the report will go a long way to help the Ministry of Education to determine what ought to be included and the various things that had been left out in the country’s education to bring it to the global level.
“I think what’s going to help us to move forward with our curriculum development is to make the SDG checklist developed by the Technical Team from UEW the rubric for the development of curriculum. So, once we have that as the rubric, we can be sure that everything will be reflected. Once that becomes the tool for assessment and subject development, we have a conscious and proactive way of ensuring SDG compliance.
“We are overwhelmed by the presence of the Professors from UEW. They’ve shown their commitment and want to announce that they are the champions of education in the country”, he said.
Chief Nat Ebo Nsarko
The Executive Director of MPA, Chief Nat Ebo Nsarko, recounted that the GSP was set up in 2019 to pilot a research project in Turkey, Morocco and Ghana by conducting country-level research on Sustainable Development Goals curriculum localisation on Goal 4, which is about achieving quality education.
He disclosed that his outfit worked closely with a team of technical researchers from UEW to produce the Ghana Report which proved to be a huge success and paved the way for the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) to grant the bid and opportunity to pilot another programme called Mission 4.7, a new global initiative to support the implementation of SDGs.
“The Technical Team’s work was so high-profiled that it took centre stage and attention and, therefore, made our bid to be a beckon and also the pilot country of Mission 4.7 very simple and, won our Minister of Education a seat on the high-level Advisory Board for Mission 4.7”, Chief Nsarko revealed.
Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, UEW and Team Lead, Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang, in his remark, thanked the Minister of Education and the MPA for the opportunity to be part of the stakeholder meeting. He noted that the choice of a team of experts from UEW for the project was obvious because of its pedigree as trainers of professional teachers and designers of curriculum instruction for all levels of education in Ghana.
Dr. Richardson Addai-Munumkum
Dr. Richardson Addai-Munumkum, Team Member, who presented the summaries of the Country Report for the GSP on behalf of the team, said the team essentially looked at existing policies and curricula to assess how the SDG Goals were incorporated, whether they were in the curriculum or educational policy and to what extent.
The report came out with very interesting findings and made sustainable recommendations to remedy the situation. The high-profile Technical Team is made up of Prof. Andy Ofori-Birikorang, Team Lead; Prof. Samuel Abeiku Hayford; Prof. George Dandy Dampson and; Prof. Ernest Akwasi Amponsah. The others are Dr. Richardson Addai-Munumkum; Dr. Christiana Hammond and Dr. Mavis Amo-Mensah.
Mission 4.7 builds on lessons learnt and draws upon UNESCO's global leadership on Education for Sustainable Development (EDS) and Global Citizenship Education (GCE) as mandated by member states of the UN and its General Assembly as well as its responsibility for monitoring target 4.7 of the global goals.
The Mission brings together leaders from across the world to highlight the critical importance of quality education for all and of education for sustainable development globally. It will create learning materials, push countries for greater investments in quality education and identify ways to train and support educators around the world. The Mission is well structured and with detailed objectives and modalities for countries to adopt.
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