Students with slightly lower passes should enter good schools in CR

Central Regional Minister-designate, Kweku Ricketts-Hagan says it is a travesty that many indigenes of the region do not gain admission into the best senior high schools there.

He says even though the Central Region has some of the country's best senior high schools, people from the region do not often get admitted into the schools - something he says must change.

Mr. Ricketts-Hagan says if confirmed by Parliament as the Regional Minister, he will promote a policy to admit students from the region into some of the best schools even if their grades are slightly below the mark.

He was explaining to the Appointment Committee of Parliament what he will do to improve education in the region when he is made the minister.

Most of the nation’s best senior secondary schools including, Wesley Girls' High School, Holy Child School, Mfantsipem School, Adisadel College are located in the Central Region.

But according to the Cape Coast South MP, statistics show that a small number of students from the region pass and gain admissions into these schools.

This he added is an alarming situation that needs to be addressed. He promised to help secure quotas in the schools for students who come from the region.

“I will create an affirmative action that will help the students from the Cape Coast gain admission into the Senior High Schools there,” he indicated.

This caused the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekufful to ask him if he was going to create an avenue for students to be admitted in the schools even if they do not qualify.

Mr Ricketts-Hagan said he would introduce policies that will help the students in the region to pass their examinations at the Basic level but in the meantime, the affirmative action is necessary.

“Many factors have contributed to the failure of students in the region and I have started addressing the problems in my constituency. I think that poverty adds to the poor performance of children in the region. I distributed some mathematical sets to students in my constituency last year…something they cannot ask from their parents due to poverty. When the results came, there was a vast improvement in their performances,” the Minister-designate said.

He said he would also focus on creating jobs and improving tourism in the region when he becomes minister.

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