Ms Louisa Amanor, the New Juaben South Municipal Coordinator of Science and Mathematics, has said to create a positive learning environment for students, mathematics teachers must be lively in class.
She urged teachers not to portray themselves as fearful because students already disliked mathematics.
Rather, they must work hard to make the subjects appealing to their students.
Ms. Amanor, who stated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, announced that the West African Examination Centre (WAEC) was now focusing on setting critical-thinking maths questions.
She said math teachers needed to revisit the fundamentals of teaching to produce students who could answer critical thinking questions by applying concepts they had been taught.
Ms. Amanor, who is also the 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) Supervisor for Centre A at the Pentecost Preparatory School in Koforidua, stated that the centre had one assistant supervisor, seven invigilators, and 203 candidates from nine schools, including public and private schools.
So far, she added, there had been no reports of absenteeism, pregnant candidates, or examination malpractice.
Mr. Divine Tetteh Daitey, the Supervisor for Center B at Pentecost Preparatory School, stated that there were fewer than 200 candidates who were writing at the Center, and that there was no assistant supervisor but seven invigilators.
He revealed that one candidate from King Jesus Preparatory School was recorded absent out of 197 candidates at Center B, adding, “he is said to have travelled outside.”
He further said that two nurses from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), a police officer, and a Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) officer had been dispatched to the two centres.
He rated student conduct on a scale of 11 out 10, adding, “though I can’t assign any reason, it’s better than last year’s.”
Commenting on the mood of students after their maths paper was written, Mr. Daitey noted that students lacked the ability to answer critical thinking questions and blamed that gap on the inability of teachers to relate concepts to “real-life situations,” making it difficult for students to comprehend.
“Relating mathematics to real-life situations is a headache for teachers,” he added, and said further, “maths must not be taught in the abstract. If students are unable to answer critical thinking questions, it means that the subject was not taught well. ”
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) following the maths paper, some students claimed that due to time constraints, they were unable to answer all the questions expected of them.
They were also diverted from some of their expected questions, such as construction, Venn diagram, rigid motion, and pie chart, while others stated that they did not take learning seriously because they viewed the days leading up to the BECE as lengthy.
“We did not start revising early. We thought we had enough time, so we wasted all the time we could have spent on studying. To us, the questions were difficult to answer, and what we expected did not come,” they said.
Mr. Matthew Teye, a candidate from St. Annes Anglican Basic School, stated that he hoped to obtain a “2” or “3” in Mathematics because he was able to answer most of the questions.
He advised continuing students to study hard, particularly to solve many past questions, because “from experience, I saw a lot of past questions among the set questions.”
He praised teachers for their efforts in teaching and encouraged students to write the BECE with confidence.
