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15.06.2009 Education

Parents Still Worried About SHS Duration

15.06.2009 LISTEN
By Daily Graphic

Parents, some labour organisations and student bodies continue to express worry over when a national policy or decision on the duration of the senior high school programme will be taken.

They are of the view that the country’s future leaders are being taken for granted, or that their future is being toyed with, while others believed that the whole issue is being politicised.

They believe that since the future of school- children is of interest to all, brains in the educational sector should be tapped in resolving the issue, irrespective of their political affiliation.


They have been making passionate appeals to the government to put in more efforts to solve the problem early.

These stakeholders have therefore called on the government as a matter of urgency, to study the recommendations made in the communique presented at the end of the recent two-day national forum on “Reaching a consensus on the duration of the senior high school (SHS) programme for affordable quality education in Ghana”.

The two-day session brought together about 700 participants, comprising civil society organisations, education experts, non-governmental organisations, representatives of registered political parties, teacher groups, students, traditional leaders and members of the public.

Even though participants presented views from various angles, one thing was obvious, that all those who contributed meant well for the students.


Some of the issues raised, questions asked and contributions made during an open forum bordered on teacher motivation, infrastructure, ability of students to absorb what they are taught during lessons, ability of teachers to teach what is expected of them, as well as the quality of teachers and their attitudes, content of curricula and roles of parent-teacher associations.

While some felt that the three-year period was not enough for the students to cover all that was expected of them, there were others who thought that four years of the SHS was a waste of time and an addition to the burden of parents, students and teachers.

The manner in which some of the participants spoke and the levels to which their tempers rose, were enough to let one appreciate how important the issue of education is to the country and for which reason it cannot be joked with.

It was therefore not surprising when in his address to open the forum, the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, called on participants to discuss the issue dispassionately.


He explained that the forum was an important national assignment that rested on the shoulders of the participants.

Mr Mahama noted that there was the need for consultations when views were divided on such an issue and drew their attention to the 1999 education forum, which gave birth to the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

In making a case for three years of SHS, Mr Emmanuel Acquaye and Dr K. B. Quansah, two of the participants, argued that there was currently enough data to show that nearly 50 per cent of children in primary schools did not benefit fom the education they received in school.

They noted that the performances of these children on national monitoring tests and on international competitive tests were abysmal.


They said the country could not aspire to be an achieving society in learning and in production, unless efforts were made to revitalise the primary education system to serve as a viable foundation for the secondary and tertiary levels of education..

Mr Acquaye and Dr Quansah observed that giving more time to correct deficiencies from the basic level, as well as cover the SHS curriculum benefited the minority of students continuing their education from the junior high school (JHS) level, who constituted less than 40 per cent of the students from basic level.

They reffered to results from the West African Examinatins Council (WAEC), which suggested that only about 15 per cent of this 40 per cent of basic school cohorts qualified each year with credits in six subjects at a sitting including core English, Mathematics and Science.

A year’s increase in the duration at the SHS level could only marginally improve the poor educational results being recorded at the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), they noted.


They said ”it stands to reason therefore that if there should be any extension, then it should be at either the primary or the JHS level”.

Making their presentations for the four-year SHS, Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana and Professor Jerome S. Djangmah, former chairman of WAEC, differed from the arguments over the past weeks that duration did not matter.

They said going back to the old system without taking adequate steps to address the shortcomings would be disastrous, especially for the majority of the rural and urban public school children who always bore the brunt of education reforms that appeared to be always predicated on the interests of the privileged minority.

Prof. Djangmah and Prof. Addae-Mensah drew attention to late entry of students to school, non-completion of the syllabuses and lack of time or unwillingness for co-curricular activities.


They said by the time the schoolchildren got to school the first term was virtually over, while they were able sometimes to report only at the beginning of the second term and their first year was, therefore, drastically truncated.

They said these were mostly the weaker students who normally came from the rural or less-endowed urban public JHSs, adding that for all students, it was only the second year that was fully used in full-scale pedagogy.

By the end of the first term in the third year, students were supposed to be revising for the examination, which begin soon after the beginning of the third term.

They said that was why many of the teachers frantically embarked on extra classes either to complete the syllabus or to try and bring their students up to scratch and admitted that though the question of costs could not easily be dismissed, it should not be enough reason to sacrifice quality, and a chance to give students a better foundation for their further studies.


Earlier, Dr Esi Sutherland-Addy a member of the Technical Committee of the 1999 National Education Forum, made a presentation on the conclusions and recommendations of the report on the 1999 forum.

She said secondary education could not be taken in isolation, as it is part of a continuum of education delivery.

Education Minister, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, performed the closing ceremony at the forum, which was unable to reach a concensus.

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