Dr Fred Awaah, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), has called on teachers to teach within the context of Africa, especially Ghana, whilst borrowing a few from the global community.
“Let’s teach rainy and dry seasons, rather than summer and winter,” Dr Awaah said in jest and explained that culturally responsive teaching would ensure that teaching was tailored towards solving problems in the country.
Dr Awaah told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the problems the African continent faced were different from the Western world, hence, teaching must be done within the cultural settings.
Culturally responsive teaching connects students’ cultures, languages, and life experiences with what they learn in school.
Research indicates that culturally responsive teaching practices promote the social, emotional, and academic development of students.
It also makes learning experiences personally meaningful, engaging, and effective.
Dr Awaah noted that students understood better when they were taught from their cultural perspectives, philosophies, and languages than from those they had not seen or felt before.
The lecturer expressed worry about the negative influence that teaching methods from the Western world had on Ghana’s educational system.
‘‘I think that culture should be the basis of teaching and learning because we inherited our educational systems from the colonial masters, and largely their culture influenced the way teaching was done,’’ he added.
The researcher said there were basic concepts that were related to the ways of life and must be incorporated into the school’s curriculum to enhance student understanding of concepts that were taught within the African region.
