GES Planning To Award JHS And SHS Graduates With Diploma Certificates

Minister for Education Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh

The government of Ghana through the Ghana Education Service (GES) is making plans to award Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS) graduates with Diploma Certificates, Minister for Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh has revealed.

According to the Education Minister, the upgrade is to see to it that JHS and SHS leavers are prepared for the job market so that can be absorbed even when they are not able to continue their education immediately into tertiary institutions. The curriculum being used in both the JHS and SHS is therefore expected to be improved to ensure the upgrade in certification becomes possible.

Speaking at the 2019 Danquah Institute Leadership lecture on the theme: “World-Class Education an Imperative for the Next Generation of Leaders” yesterday, Mathew Opoku Prempeh indicated that JHS leavers will be awarded a National Higher Diploma whiles SHS leavers will get National Diplomas.

“The curriculum that will appear for the Junior High School will lead to a National Higher Diploma. When you finish Senior High School, you get a National Diploma. It is not everybody who must go to the University straight, but we must prepare our kids for the world of work”, the Education minister shared.

He continued “National Diploma will ensure that our kids can go straight to work. If someone can go with the Middle School leaving certificate into the army, why can’t someone go now with Senior High School diploma into work? That should be good enough that anybody who has passed and has a certificate should be able to be employed provided we have prepared that person,”

Additionally, there are also plans to reduce the number of years spent by undergraduates at the university from four to three years. Dr. Prempeh opines that there is no need for undergraduates to be spending four years in school when it is three years in other Universities all around the world.

“Everywhere in the world, undergrad is three years, not four years. Why should we spend four years doing undergrad? We will sit down with the university lecturers and start challenging them because Ghana is not an island”, he said.