The attempt to bridge the access gap at the SHS level has been largely successful, but has come with increased pressure on facilities in some schools.

[contextly_sidebar id=”A6BXwILJaUXmbfixWu371CsbaEuhsp8w”]Citi FM has carried reports about some of these challenges, notably at the La Presby SHS in Osu, Accra, where first years were sitting on cement blocks for classes and Vitting SHS in Tamale, where some students were sleeping on mattresses on verandas.

La Presby SHS has since benefitted from desks donated by McDan Shipping and the La Dadekotopon Assembly, whilst the Northern Regional Minister has been to Vitting SHS on a fact-finding mission.

This state of affairs has seen the Akufo-Addo administration met with some criticism for not anticipating the pressure on school infrastructure.

Gov’t appeal for patience

But the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku-Prempeh, appealed for some patience when he spoke to some journalists after appearing before Parliament on Tuesday.

“We are not oblivious of the challenges and stress this free SHS is bringing. This is a government that acknowledges that and we will deal with it,” he said.

He noted to the media that Ghanaians could not expect the Free SHS policy to solve problems that were already existing within secondary education.

Free SHS won’t solve every problem

Dr. Opoku-Prempeh argued further that, some students in the Northern Region have benefited from scholarships but have still had to contend with dire infrastructure conditions.

“Some parts of this country have enjoyed free secondary education. Have all access problems in those areas been solved? For 50 years, people have enjoyed partial free scholarship in the Northern Region. Have we finished building schools in that part of the country? Have we finished supplying furniture in that part of the country?”

“Let’s not feel and be led to believe that the scholarship will necessarily solve every problem. The scholarship is about solving the problem of access, financial access,” the Minister said.

When the Free SHS policy was launched in September, equity, skills development, infrastructure development and quality were touted as the pillars of the policy, and Dr. Opoku-Prempeh assured that the full scope of the policy will eventually be realized.

To address the infrastructure challenges, he said that “there are emergency interventions that are ongoing in acquiring furniture, bunk beds and things like that.”

Every school has made known its deficit gap to the government, according to Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, who added that “when we talk about the Free SHS furniture challenge alone, it is about GHc 80 million [that has been allocated].”

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By: Duke Opoku Mensah & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Minister said the government at the time did not fulfill its promise to award scholarships to some 100,000 students in boarding schools who were to benefit from the progressively free senior high school initiative.

[contextly_sidebar id=”QRnH4TiMjW3JDGaxPYjIEYtwDC49Fcic”]”Till President Mahama left, not a single student had been given that scholarship. I am speaking on authority. Not one student,” he stated to the media after making a similar assertion on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday.

“The records are there, and the facts are speaking for themselves. Not a single student in a secondary school had been awarded scholarship… We met the headmasters and we met the scholarship secretariat and the question was have you sent anybody to receive a scholarship; the answer was no,” Dr. Opoku Prempeh stated.

In 2016, the budget statement ushered in the start of the progressively senior high school education with Government providing funding for the first term of 2015/16 academic year for 320,488 day students in public senior high schools.

The progressive free secondary education absorbed examination, entertainment, library, SRC, sports, culture, science development, science and mathematics quiz, ICT and curricular fees.

Then President, John Mahama, subsequently proposed an extension to the progressive free secondary education to cover about 500,000 students, with 120,000 boarding students having been earmarked for the programme in a bid to increase the total number of students in SHS enjoying progressively free senior high school education.

Ablakwa disputes claim

Meanwhile, a former Deputy Minister for Education, Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, has described the Education Minister’s remarks as a palpable falsehood.

He said to Citi News the Minister was being “economical with the truth” although he failed to provide information on how much the previous government committed to the programme.

“Nothing can be further from the truth. That statement is a palpable falsehood… I know for a fact we made some payments,” Mr. Ablakwa said.

“There is no way progressively free would have survived. There is no way the heads would have continued to take care of these students if we had not released monies to the schools,” the former Minister argued.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He said they ought to demonstrate high sense of discipline, commitment and respect for the code of conduct of their profession in order to enhance quality education delivery.

‘The Ministry is determined to ensuring that teachers’ promotion is based on competency, hardwork and other relevant requirements per the National Teachers Council’s demands’, he noted.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OuOMcwc8cDqPlR8fqoMchqhOtioXnsFo”]This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the fifth graduation of the Jackson College of Education (JCE), Kumasi, on Saturday.

In all, 2, 334 trainee teachers passed out and were awarded Diploma in Basic Education through Distance Learning, and were jointly awarded by the JCE and the University of Education, Winneba (UEW).

Master Abraham Korang of the Berekum Campus of the JCE, emerged the overall best graduating teacher, and his cumulative assessment grades were considered as the best so far in the history of the institution.

This year’s graduation saw the passing out of four physically-challenged persons, who were all given special undisclosed prizes.

Since its commencement in 2009, the College, a subsidiary institution of the Jackson Educational Complex, and the nation’s premier accredited private college of education running distance education, has produced over 6, 000 teachers.

Dr Opoku Prempeh reminded the teachers that teaching was one of selflessness and dedication, and that they were required to give their all for the benefit of their pupils and students.

He lauded Professor and Mrs Jackson, founders of the College, for complementing the government’s efforts to give professional training to teachers.

He advocated a strong public-private partnership in achieving educational goals of the nation, explaining that government alone could not shoulder the full responsibility of educational demands.

Professor Reynolds Okine, Principal of the UEW, Kumasi Campus, advised the teachers to shun all forms of malpractices that could dent the image of the profession.

The UEW, he said, would continue to assist and mentor the JCE to keep the institution on track to meeting its set objectives.

Professor Samuel Afrane, Council Chairman of the Jackson Educational Complex, encouraged the graduating trainee teachers not to refuse postings to rural communities.

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Source: GNA

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The over two hundred students were unable to write this year’s English and RME papers due to a change in examination centre through no fault of theirs.

WAEC subsequently indicated that, the students will only be made to re-write the papers in February 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”EHXe7NIWAwGT3fO0Di6mISo5a11pmPAe”]But speaking to Citi News, the Minority Spokesperson on Education, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, said Parliament must compel the Ministry of Educaiton and WAEC to allow the students to write the papers this year.

“It was our expectation that the children will be given the opportunity to rewrite the two papers because whenever a paper is cancelled, WAEC quickly reorganizes itself and set new questions for the candidates. So we expected that having missed those two papers, WAEC should be able to organize the two for them just after the entire examination was over, but the Ministry of Education is not ready to do so. WAEC organizes the examination on behalf of the ministry of Education so it is the responsibility of the ministry to tell WAEC to organize the examination. The ministry is adamant; the minister seems not to worry about the plight of these children.”

He noted that, the committee will sit on Thursday to deliberate on the matter and will subsequently invite and question Mr. Opoku Prempeh on the matter.

“We are expecting the minister before our committee to brief us on what is preventing the ministry from ordering WAEC to conduct the examination for the children so that they could also join their colleagues in September to enter senior high school. During our meeting we will discuss issues concerning the BECE and that of the University of Education, so when we meet, we will send formally invite him to appear before the committee,” he added.

Meanwhile, the two largest teacher unions in Ghana, the Ghana National Association Teachers, GNAT, and the National Association of Graduate Teachers, NAGRAT, have lashed out at the two bodies for not showing enough interest in the matter.

GES must organize special exams if WAEC won’t 

The General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Acheampong, insisted that the Ghana Education Service must  force WAEC to organize the exams for the stranded candidates.

“So if you have realized that 200 students could not write the examination, what stops you from reorganizing another examination for them? They should organize supplementary exams for them immediately. That will show whether WAEC is versatile or not. WAEC conducts the examination on behalf of the Ghana government.”

He also asked GES to organize the examination for the candidates if WAEC proves difficult.

“The Ministry and Ghana Education Service should be firm. If it becomes the situation that WAEC is failing to conduct that examination the Ghana Education Service should ask its testing unit to organize some questions for the kids, let them write and be marked to enable the kids go to the secondary school,” Acheampong added.

GES must act fast

The Vice President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, also charged GES to act fast to salvage the situation.

“It’s a matter that we don’t even need to be talking about that now. I believe that at the time that it occurred, they should have been proactive enough to have acted. You see, these are students that if they don’t write these two exams cannot proceed anywhere else. I understand that English language is part of it and English language is one of the qualifying subjects that will lead you to SHS and if it was not any fault of theirs that they could not write the examination, then the onus is on the GES to act immediately to salvage the situation,” Carbonu added.

Organise special BECE exams or face us in court

In a related development, an advocacy group, Child Rights International, has petitioned WAEC to organize a special exams for the stranded candidates immediately or face them in court.

“Please take notice that unless our clients receive a favourable response from you in this matter on or before the 5th day of July, 2017, we shall be obliged to commence legal proceedings against you for adequate remedy,” the group added in the petition.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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According to the Education Minister, who was addressing heads of high schools in Kumasi, head-teachers would have to justify their continued stay accounting to the Ghana Education Service (GES) if they superintend poor examination results.

[contextly_sidebar id=”w057mCPKwTb4rxPFBMrV2pvmyyk9wTqK”]But reacting to the comments, which GNAT describes as a threat, the General Secretary of the Association, David Ofori Acheampong, said the Dr. Opoku Prempeh should have consulted with teachers on his position.

“We don’t think it is appropriate. I believe that there are so many problems confronting education in Ghana so if you come, I think the best thing is for us to have a consultative meeting. Let us discuss the challenges and see how we can resolve the problems.”

Mr. Acheampong also suggested that, it would be unfair to lay the blame for the failure rate of schools at the feet of head-teachers.

“I don’t know who gave him advice on this particular matter, but I think that if you want to trace the challenges and problems that have resulted in the low performance of some of our students, we cannot lay it wholly on the doorsteps of the teachers.”

“The very people who you are going to work with, the very people who are going to support you are the people you are threatening without even giving them a hearing, it is not proper,” Mr. Acheampong asserted.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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