Steadfast Social Sciences https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss <p><strong><em>Steadfast</em></strong><em style="font-weight: bold;"><strong> </strong>Social Sciences</em><em> </em>publishes peer-reviewed research in all areas of social and human sciences. It encourages interdisciplinary research, fosters an environment for cross disciplinary research connections and also accepts a range of article types including reviews, short communications and replication studies. Through open access publishing model, it aims at bringing research and knowledge to the widest possible audience. </p> en-US Tue, 09 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000 OJS 3.2.1.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Monitoring and evaluation as a tool for quality in the administration of examination among Ghanaian Secondary Schools https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/17 <p>Existing researches have proven that, truly the need to offer quality examination requires stringent examination policies and practices to govern the process, right from the setting to administration of the examination. Monitoring and Evaluation has become an increasingly important tool within global efforts toward achieving environmental, economic and social sustainability (Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), 2000). At national and international scales, monitoring and evaluation are important tools for tracking progress towards goals, and influencing policy and practices (NRCan, 2000; United Nations, 2000, 2008). At regional and sub-regional scales monitoring and evaluation is important for assessing performance of and to assist with management planning. This article examined the role of policies, practices and quality in the administration of examination in Ghana. The data for this study was collected through interviews, questionnaires and observation methods. Amanfro Senior School was used as the case study. The findings reveal that monitoring and evaluation contributed immensely in the production of standardized examinations thus quality academic performance.</p> Emmanuel Agbenyegah Ayerteye, Maxwell Ofori Copyright (c) 2022 Steadfast Social Sciences https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/17 Fri, 21 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Impact of COVID-19 on learners’ mental health during and in the post COVID-19 pandemic world https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/18 <p>Studies suggest that overall, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety among college and school-going age populations worldwide. Accordingly, the pandemic also impeded access to mental health services by the affected. Furthermore, spikes in suicidal behaviour were found amongst young people in locations profoundly affected by COVID-19. Additionally, young school-going age people in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) were also considerably impacted as compared to high income countries. This article reports a spike in acts of self-harm, a general rise in suicide mortality, exhaustion and loneliness in the general population and amongst school-age going populations and highlights the extreme gap in mental health care as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence the article analyses the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the general population and amongst students and points out the pandemic’s specific impacts on learning. Thereafter the article recommends that countries and learning institutions step up mental health services in response to overall skyrocketing cases of mental health problems amongst young people triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. </p> Audrey Matere, Josephine Oranga Copyright (c) 2022 Steadfast Social Sciences https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/18 Fri, 21 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000 Teachers’ perception towards blended online teaching in speaking class during COVID-19 pandemic https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/12 <p>The sudden closure of all learning institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic has caused learners to experience problems in learning the Ghanaian Language, particularly speaking skills. Learning speaking skills is crucial because it is the main mode of communication worldwide. Most learning institutions across the world have adopted e-learning since the COVID-19 lockdown implementation. Teachers and students require more time to adapt to virtual learning since the majority of them are not familiar with the new technologies to be used in the classroom. Hence, this paper investigates teachers’ and learners’ perceptions concerning the application of online/blended learning methods in teaching and learning. The paper will also examine the challenges encountered by teachers and learners in online classrooms. The study used a structured questionnaire in Google forms covering teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of online/blended services in Ghanaian Colleges of Education. The empirical data was collected by distributing an online questionnaire to ten (10) Ghanaian Language teachers and fifty (50) students. Data analysis was done by the use of simple statistical tools like mean and percentages. The findings of the study revealed that both instructors and learners testified that blended learning was important during the pandemic period. However, it was not much effective as face-to-face teaching and learning. Some challenges identified were internet problems, exam cheating by learners, inadequate facilities, lack of motivation and interaction, security and data privacy.</p> Adu David Tuffour, Faustina Gyampoh, Joseph Akossah, Debora Dankwa, John Bright Owusu-Ansah Copyright (c) 2022 Steadfast Social Sciences https://www.steadfastoa.com/index.php/sfss/article/view/12 Tue, 09 Aug 2022 00:00:00 +0000