The Director General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment(NaCCA), Professor Edward Appiah has indicated that the kind of parenting in today’s world is failing to promote generational thinking.
“Our parents will be crying in their graves because the kind of parenting we are having these days does not promote good generational thinking.” the professor posited in an interview, on Y107.9FM’s YLeaderboard series with host Rev Erskine.
He mentioned that there is a need for a change in the curriculum generally, revealing that curriculum goes beyond the precinct of education and academia. “It’s not just the teachers; it’s not just the classroom activity; it’s about the society. Curriculum is not just adding one plus one or adding letters to letters, Curriculum is about everything.” he revealed, and as a matter of fact, extends into their various homes thus, it is up to parents to ensure that they employ the right curriculum in raising the children. “In our house, when you give birth to a child, you’ve started a curriculum because you want the child to be somebody and how you treat the child, train the child and what you tell the child prepares the child for what you want the child to be in future.” he explained.
During the interview, he premised these affirmations on what must be done to change the future of the nation Ghana; he emphatically spoke about the possible effects these things have on children if they are taken lightly, tagging them as victims of circumstances who only reflect what society has introduced to them. “What happens is a reflection of society so when the children are talking about money and other things, it is based on what society feeds them.” he highlighted.
The design expert further added that the nation must desist from the long-standing method of academic assessment which gives young Ghanaian students the mindset of ‘learning to pass’ which grows with them but rather train children to become lifelong learners, children who can utilize spaces for the better, children who become innovators, and children who can transform society. “You can only transform the nation when the largest population of the citizenry, the youth, have a transformed mind. If you don’t have a way of transforming their minds, we are doomed.” he indicated with an evident yearning to train people who can do better than he is doing when they are giving the mantle.
By: Kobina Badu Baidoo
