“Ghana’s first Girls’ STEM High School gets the best of teachers trained by the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)”. Since its introduction in 2020, the AIMS Masters in Mathematical Sciences for Teachers (MMST) program has targeted the best high school teachers in Ghana to give them additional training to make them more competent in their field of work. With the support of the Government of Ghana, these teachers are given special training in Problem-Solving and Analytics together with other skills putting them amongst the first 5% of exceptional teachers in Ghana. Today’s #AlumoftheWeek is George Osafo from the first cohort of this program, and he shares his experiences before and after leaving AIMS Ghana.
Having emerged as the best student in his district, George received the Presidential Award that gave him a full scholarship to General Science at the Ghana Senior High School, Koforidua, Ghana. He had his undergraduate studies at the University of Education, Winneba, where he studied Mathematics with ICT for his bachelor’s degree. He is a lover of mathematics and believes that Mathematical Sciences are the solution to every problem in this world, as all issues have their foundations to do with mathematics.
“Every problem has its foundation or a connection to mathematics. This makes those in the mathematical sciences potential heroes.”
Before joining AIMS, George served as a Mathematics teacher at Saint Martin’s Senior High School, Nsawam. His time at AIMS was a moment of learning beyond what his undergraduate training had exposed him to. As an active teacher-learner, he believes in transferring knowledge through active learning and collaboration, a skill needed to teach STEM-related courses in high schools.
“The joy of seeing students discover mathematical concepts for themselves is priceless. AIMS taught me to confidently assist others in learning mathematics through personal discovery.”
Untraditional of most teacher training institutions, the AIMS MMST program has a research component that requires students to either review a concept or explores other new mathematics areas. This has been of great importance to George in his new position.
“My experience at AIMS is life-changing, touching my thoughts, interests and ambitions in the field of mathematical sciences. In my current role as a tutor, I have developed confidence in helping my students understand Mathematical concepts and skills due to the deep understanding and research skills I acquired at AIMS”.
Ghana recently launched its flagship programme of establishing STEM Senior High School to train enough students to bridge the gap between Arts and Sciences. Through its Ministry of Education, the Government of Ghana has promised to attach one of these STEM Senior High Schools to AIMS Ghana following the success of AIMS Ghana’s Girls in Mathematical Sciences Program (GMSP). George currently serves as a tutor at the Bosomtwe Girls STEM Senior High School in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.