Government Receives Educational Proposals From Neogenics Edu-Consult

Neogenics Edu-Consult, a part of Neogenics Education Group has suggested to government to officially organise extra classes for weak students and not all students at all levels.

'From our research it is evident that students are mostly engaged in extra classes either organised by teachers in the schools or by parents at home or remedial schools and therefore it is recommended that extra classes can be organised to help more especially the weak students rather than just organising it generally for everyone.

'Secondly, the objective of organising extra classes should be more of an interventionist measure rather that a corrective measure.'

These were contained a research report by Mr Kwaku Anim on the organisation of extra classes and its effects on students at all levels of education and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

The report said 'we also recommend that heads of schools must intensify the supervision of teachers since without it, some teachers would informally organise extra classes for students and see this as an avenue for money making. '

The report also recommended that the amount of money charged by teachers to engage students in extra classes should be moderate so that students who come from poor backgrounds would not be left out and that as extra classes do not guarantee that students would definitely pass all their subjects at the final exams, they should not put all their hopes in them only

The research also suggested that proper measures were be put in place to engage students academically rather than spending more hours in extra classes.

'Also, most public schools are overcrowded and as a result, they keep large class sizes. We therefore recommend that small class sizes be kept so that the teachers can fully engage students in class rather than resorting to extra classes, where heavy schoolwork is sometimes harmful to the mental and physical well-being of the students.'

The research also recommended that extra classes be tailored to individual needs rather than organising it on a wholesale and that teachers should not organise extra classes for students in any way as a blackmail to cover part of the syllabus in the mainstream teaching and then engage students for the rest in private extra classes.

'This most often is problematic, the problem of blackmailing must not extend to the level where students who attend a particular teachers' extra classes are favoured in exams by giving such students more marks to pass the paper. One problem is that extra classes sometimes lead to needless classification among the students and this is unhealthy to academic work where all students must be attended to equally.'

Positively, the research said Tutoring provided income for tutors, and could create constructive out-of-school activities for young people and was a phenomenon for instructive focus for comparative study education.

The research also recommended that extra classes should not be institutionalised in schools since it could be culturally accepted and students may focus on it and would not pay attention to mainstream teaching, but those organised by parents in private homes cannot be stopped since many parents see it as a wider strategy for their children to be high achievers.

GNA