The falling standard of education

There has been a public outcry regarding the poor standard of education. The falling standard of education should be blamed on government's policy of wholesale promotion.

A recent research shows that government should indeed be blamed for the policy due to the following reasons, which view some teachers in Senior High Schools also share. Those who hold this school of thought for the abolishing of the wholesale promotion policy believe that;

(a) Some students take this opportunity to dodge classes

(b) It makes students lazy and there is no competition in the academic work

(c) It does not motivate students to learn hard and may lead to poor academic performance

(d)It makes the use of tests and examinations a tool for selection of students for manpower training for the world of work irrelevant

(e) It does not ensure excellent academic performance by instilling discipline and sanity in the school s.

(f) It will help students see the worth in passing examination and will not have time for immorality as well as criminality.

(g) Going through the examination system gives students confidence.

Others also think that in government's quest to catch up with the western world, they end up importing alien policies concerning education, which they impose on pupils and students without taking into consideration their consequences. Most often, governments forget that the development of a nation depends largely on the work of teachers, who take up the greater responsibility of in the education sector.

It is teachers who determine the future of many students and they are the pivots upon which education runs. As a result it is the teachers who should be consulted on matters concerning education, instead of always looking for answers from politicians.

Governments have most often relegated teachers to the background when taking important decisions on education.

The wholesale promotion policy is supposed to result in repeating class, be promoted on probation and withdrawal which the final resort after all other efforts have proven futile. Special counseling in first term, serious caution on repetition in second term, promotion or promotion on probation in third term, and withdrawal were powerful instruments used to curb laziness and idleness fail. It is, therefore, to instill discipline in order to promote efficient and effective teaching and learning.

However, the government has stopped all these and many other initiatives, and has adopted the Western world policies of education which is costly to the nation, in terms of production of spurious or half baked manpower, leading to lower production.

This policy is nothing but a recipe for laziness, Idleness and Indiscipline, hence the cause of the falling standard of education. Because students can not be repeated, punished or withdrawn, and promotion is no longer on meritocracy or reciprocity, but rather haphazardly done, this seems to be motivating or encouraging students to be wayward. Students begin gradually as minor deviants and graduate later as capitalist deviants, and consequently become serious criminals (armed robber). The high level of Pregnancies recorded in 2009 BECE should be a warning to government.

Education as was done many years ago is not the same as today. Level of crime in the past is not the same as today, even though our population is increasing astronomically. All these point to the fact that wholesale promotion as imported by the government does not auger well for the country.

To round it all up, an Akan Maxim has it that ''The decline and fall of a nation begins from home'', therefore, the decline and fall in education today begins from the importation of western-world-styled-educational policies by government, without due recognition of our cultural environment.

That is to say, people in their Individual homes make up a nation. When the character of Individuals degenerate, the character, capacity and quality of life of the whole nation are affected and such degeneration eventually leads to the decline and fall of the nation. When virtue is embedded in education, it thrives and abides.

However, in today's Ghana, virtue does is not found in education, but rather indiscipline. This is because a student can choose either to write exams or not.

The system of education can be changed from three (3) year duration to four(4) years, but the standard of education will still fall, unless there is due recognition for meritocracy at the Senior High School to curb Indiscipline.

I am, therefore, appealing to the Director General of Education, Minister of Education and the government to give the policy of wholesale promotion in the Senior High Schools a second look. 

ATSU AGBEMAFO V TUTOR AND MEMBER OF BOARD OF GOVERNORS, JEMA SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, KINTAMPO SOUTH.