The Director of Centre for Asian Studies at the University of Ghana, Professor Lloyd Amoah, yesterday advocated the inculcation of the Japanese style of education in the country’s schools.
According to him, adopting Japanese style of education in schools, especially basic education would help build a more sensitive, alert, more collective sense of self than it currently experiencing.
The Japanese style education is a holistic approach in education that aims to build overall character of children focusing on three components.
These components includes, “Solid Academic Ability,” that focuses on competency to solidly learn the basics by taking initiative to find issues, learn and think, decide and act independently and to also better solve problems.
Also, “Rich Humanity,” that focus on self-discipline, cooperation with others, kindness and ability to be moved, and “Healthy Body,” which also focuses on health and physical fitness to love actively.
Speaking at an exchange event with students from University of Tokyo and the University of Ghana in Accra, Prof. Amoah said even though educational system in Japan was not far-fetched from educational system in the country, however, due to the exceptional training in Japanese basic school made the citizens more organised, responsible and like to volunteer.
The event aimed to facilitate cross-cultural dialogue between students of the same generation in Ghana and Japan, fostering a deeper understanding of the educational systems in both countries through the exchange of ideas.
“The aim of their system of education is to raise responsible and alerted citizens, they are aware of their surroundings, that they take care of their cities because they love their country, so this partnership with Japan, I think, should help us to begin to look at the educational system and build a more sensitive, more alert, more collective sense of self than I think that we now have,” he noted.
The Ambassador of Japan to Ghana, Mr Hiroshi Yoshimoto, said Japan citizens were made at the elementary school which held children develop their basic characters.
He stated that in Japan, children learn through school activities not only academic skills, but also some duties and tasks, including talking to each other and sharing their worries and concerns, adding that pupils encourage each other.
This, he noted that, these mixture of feelings and experience help children to work hard and accomplish their dreams.
“We like to share those kind of Japanese traits of education with Ghana.
There is a discussion with the Ministry of Education to have some partnership through the education system, especially in making the most of the Japanese system,” he disclosed.
The Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Ghana, Ms Momoko Suzuki, said JICA believes that human capital was the integral part of a country’s economic development making it important to invest in education system, especially curricular activities.
“It is not only about academic performances, like mathematics or English but we need to prioritise soft skills, such as like teamwork, leadership, communication skills, discipline and timelines and hygiene to help raise responsible citizens,” she indicated.
BY CECILIA YADA LAGBA
