<<Print>>

Mr Miracule Gavor, the Executive Director of Vedic Math Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has suggested the use of vernacular in the teaching of mathematics at the basic level. He said the use of vernacular in teaching the subject would easily attract pupils to appreciate and develop a love for it. �The use of vernacular invites the pupils to see mathematics closer to them and thereby eliminate the fear for the subject,� he said. Mr Gavor was speaking at the opening of a two-day capacity building workshop for mathematics teachers in the Upper Manya Krobo District at Asesewa. The workshop was dubbed, �Mathematics Skills and Performance Improvement (MSPI) training� and was organized by the NGO with funding from PLAN Ghana. In a speech read on her behalf, Mrs Esther Bossman-Ammah, the District Education Director for Upper Manya Krobo asserted that, Ghana needed to have a strong mathematics background. She said there could never be any effective revolution of science education in the country without a strong mathematics background. Mrs Bossman-Ammah called for the introduction of mathematics specialization in all colleges of education to build a strong foundation for the subject at the early stages. She expressed worry over the poor state of mathematics teaching in the district and urged the participants to take advantage of the workshop. �We are still faced with teachers who do not have mastery over the subject, those who avoid certain perceived difficult topics; inability to carry pupils along the instructional period and pupils who are ill prepared and lacked the motivation to study the subject�, she said.