Stakeholders in the educations sector are worried about what it described as government’s continuous investment towards expanding access to education while continually ignoring the challenges with regard to the quality of the education being provided. The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) explained that while the drive to expand access to education is a good one, the quality of education being offered should not be sacrificed.
Speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East today, December 10, 2021, the President of GNAPS, Dr. Damasus Tuurosung explained that it is evident that the many challenges that have bedevilled the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) are coming to bear now.
“Quality is taking a nosedive. Resources that have been channelled towards enhancing quality education, are being channelled to expand facilities to expand access. When you are expanding access at the expense of quality, you will be having poor results,” he explained.
The President of GNAPS explained that unlike in private educational facilities where owners and management of the facilities are committed to supervising staff and ensuring that the right thing is done, the public education system’s supervision is nothing to write home about.
“Supervision has been thrown to the dogs. I am a stakeholder in the private sector and I can tell you the private sector always performs because we supervise. I will not establish a school and not ensure that there are quality controls that will see to success. Go to the District and Regional Directorates of Education, they have no fuel to run around and supervise,” he explained.
Dr. Tuurosong implored government to re-strategize and commit the needed resources to ensure that quality is returned to the public education system.
Touching on the poor performance of schools in the Upper East and Upper West Regions, he said blamed the situation on the systemic neglect and economic differences between northern and southern Ghana.
Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) described as unacceptable, the dips in the performance of students who sat for the 2021 WASSCE in subjects like Core Mathematics and English Language. The President of GNAPS Dr. Damasus Tuurosung explained that the situation is even more worrying when is a comparative analysis is done on the performances of students who wrote the 2020 WASSCE and those who wrote this year. He said even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, when students had very little time with the teachers in the classrooms, the students performed better.
Background
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released provisional results of candidates, who sat for the WASSCE for School Candidates, 2021 in Ghana. WAEC said it will make available login details to Heads of school to enable them print the statement of results of their candidates.
In a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs Mrs. Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, WAEC cautioned the candidates against falling prey to the activities of scammers who promise to upgrade results for a fee. According to WAEC, a total of 446,352 candidates, made up of 221,439 (49.6 %) males and 224,913 (50.4 %) females from 965 schools sat for the examination. This figure is 18.8% higher than the 2020 figure of 375,763. A total of 3,545 (0.79 %) of the candidates who registered were absent from the examination.
WAEC through the statement indicated that some 54.08 percent of students who sat for the exam passed the English Language. Another 54.11 who sat for the exam passed the mathematics subject while some 65.70 percent of candidates passed in Integrated Science. The statement indicated that 66.03 percent of candidates passed the Social Studies exam.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
