Prof Jerome Djangmah, a former Director General of the Ghana Education Service, on Thursday said the reversal of the Senior High School (SHS) system from the four years to three years was very disappointing.
He said the education system should be flexible to allow some autonomy such that, ”students who can do less years in school could go ahead to write the examination after three years and those who would prefer to take their examination after four years should also be allowed to do so because some children can do less years in school.”
Prof. Djangmah said this at a forum organised by Occupy Ghana, a pressure group on the theme; Confronting The Major Crisis In Ghana’s Education.
Prof Djangmah said there was disparity in the basic education certificate examination, which is reproduced in the West African Examination Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, because the number of student who are able to gain entry into tertiary education is very small.
He said government should not expect that the performance of children from less endowed schools and those in well-endowed schools will be the same, recommending a decentralization of the education system.
Mrs Elizabeth Ohene, Former Minister for Education in the Kufuor government said the public schools have better facilities, better salaries, and better trained teachers than what pertains in majority of the private schools.
She said there was a challenge with the management system of education and called on the inspectorate unit to be more effective.
Mrs Ohene also stressed the need for schools to be put under the control of district assemblies.
Mr Charles Aheto-Tsegah, Director, Ghana Education Service, said “we give to every school its performance for over a period of time but as to how the school positions itself is left to the particular school.”
“Let’s look at the educational system in another way and not only by results,” adding that, the challenges faced by teachers, if addressed, will go a long way to confront some of the problems.