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Professor Emmanuel Kwame Essel, Academic Director at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana has expressed the need for governments to provide incentives that would entice mathematics teachers to stay in the classrooms.

He noted that many good mathematics teachers at all levels in public schools are constantly leaving the classrooms to seek employment in other fields to earn higher salaries because teaching the subject has become unattractive.

Prof Essel was speaking on the theme:” The role of AIMS in the development of Africa,” at a public lecture organised by the institute in Cape Coast on Wednesday.

“Now a lot of teachers with good mathematical background are leaving the classroom for other jobs… Many mathematics teachers we have today do not have strong interest in the subject and often avoid teaching some topics due to limited knowledge in them, it is very pathetic,” he said.

Prof Essel called for pragmatic measures to attract mathematicians to take up the teaching of the subject to help reduce the rate of failures at all levels

According to him, mathematical thinking is a necessary tool for understanding African problems, whilst developing institutions should use specific logical solutions to address problems and therefore, a higher commitment to the promotion of the subject is needed.

The mathematics professor emphasized that most Ghanaian students are not interested to take up courses in mathematics after basic school because the methodologies used by the teachers in teaching the subject at that level make it difficult, thereby discouraging them to pursue it further.

He said the education sector needs to ensure that every basic school teacher has core competencies in teaching Mathematics, General Science and Information Communication Technology to be able to prepare the pupils for higher practical courses in future.

Prof Essel mentioned that AIMS over the past 12 years had contributed immensely to solving problems in the Farming, Fishing, Education, Health and other sectors of the local economy as well as some economic problems in Africa.

AIMS Ghana has provided in service training for more than 100 basic school mathematics teachers in Central and Eastern Regions to help them improve upon their content level in mathematics through its ‘teacher training project.’

He explained that the project was aimed at demystifying the notion that mathematics is a difficult subject and to reduce the level of abstractness in the teaching of the subject as well as to encourage females to take up the course.

He urged students to adopt mathematical approaches towards problems solving in their various lives to move the country forward in development.