While the government’s flagship education programme; the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy remains a brilliant solution toward increasing access to education at the pre-tertiary level, the policy may never achieve its full purpose because it is riddled with a litany of problems.
Management and Education Expert, Nii Armah Ardey, speaking on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East Show explained that while the question of increased enrolment is not in doubt, all the other pieces that would be put together to make the policy whole have been left unattended to.
Mr. Ardey cited the poor quality feeding of students, the overwhelming deficit in teacher-student ratio along with the lack of teacher motivation.
He said if the little attention paid to these aspects of the policy continues, the entire policy could be derailed. Even more worrying for the Educationist, is the issue of the poor quality of human resource that would move from the pre-tertiary level to the tertiary level.
“Have we concerned ourselves with the teacher-student ratio? The issue of the teacher-student ratio is what we would attribute to a lot of students not passing subjects like mathematics and science. You have a lot of students in the class with few teachers. They are not able to conduct the number of class tests that they are supposed to do because of the marking. That in itself affects quality.”
“Now, for teacher motivation and teacher satisfaction, [you will ask] where is the accommodation? If you go to other countries where teachers are happy to do their work, there are certain incentives that are given to them that inspire them to do their work. We were told earlier this year that 10,000 housing units would be constructed for teachers. Let’s go back and find out. Where are they?”
“As media, as educators, we have to follow up on the issues. The announcement was made in Kumasi. Let us go back and find out, what is the level of the construction of the 10,000 housing units since it was announced. If these things are in place, they motivate teachers.”
Earlier, Mr. Ardey wondered whether successive governments are more interested in just enrolment numbers at the pre-tertiary level of education or rather concerned about the quality of education.
Mr. Ardey explained that over the years, the government have committed resources towards expanding access to education with very little concern for the quality of education.
He said corresponding attention needs to be given to the quality of education offered at these levels to ensure that young students have solid foundations.
On the same issue, Dr. Clement Abass Apaak, the Member of Parliament for the Builsa South Constituency and Deputy Ranking Member on the Education Select Committee expressed grave concern about the quality of students produced under the NPP government’s flagship educational programme; Free Senior High School (Free SHS).
According to Dr. Apaak, while the students graduating from the Senior High Schools may have excellent grades on paper, they have no proper substance.
This means that when they further their education to the tertiary level, there is an extra burden on lecturers.
To this end, tertiary institutions could soon be forced to implement a policy that would compel university entrants to sit for a common entrance exam. This would determine whether or not, they would be allowed to study at a particular university.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
