Abolition of Agricultural Science as a Single Subject in Basic Schools in Ghana: Implications for Basic Educational Reforms.

Abstract

The implementation of new educational reforms in 2012 academic year in Ghana led to the abolition of Agriculture Science as a single subject in basic schools and agriculture science course was subsumed into Integrated Science. Concerns have been raised by stakeholders as to whether the reforms give room for adequate covering of agriculture needed in basic schools. A census of 107 Academic staff in the School of Agriculture and selected Departments from the Faculty of Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana was undertaken to find out their perceptions on the abolition of Agricultural Science as a Single Subject in the Basic School Curriculum (ASSSBSC) in Ghana. Content validated questionnaire was used for data collection and data was analysed using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U -test and Binary Logistic Regression. The findings of the study showed that majority (85%) of the respondents do not support the abolition of ASSSBSC in Ghana. Majority (95%) of the respondents generally agreed that Agricultural Science, like other subjects, should be treated as a single subject in basic schools. However, few (27%) suggested that even though it should be treated as single subject, it must not be a compulsory subject but optional. The binary logistic regression analysis showed that "agriculture science forms part of general science subject" was the best predictor of respondents' reason for supporting or otherwise, the abolishing of ASSSBSC in Ghana. The study recommended that the issue of whether agricultural science should be integrated into the general science in the basic schools or not should be revisited and re-examined by the stakeholders. Future educational reforms may use a tracer study as a major stakeholder participation tool for making informed decisions towards sustainable basic education in Ghana.