The Deputy Minister said the initiative would help build the capacity of headmasters in the secondary schools to be abreast with current development in the management of schools.

[contextly_sidebar id=”M6AUKATGrlwbZEfuTWWGYUmP92frNDuY”]Dr Adutwum said this in Accra, at an orientation workshop for selected journalists across the country on the Secondary Education Improvement Project.

He said the Ministry had realised that some of the headmasters performance was below average and that there was the need to organise a leadership course for them to up their responsibilities and also ensure accountability in the school system.

“I was shocked to ask a headmaster of a school about the performance of the school and he said he doesn’t know, how can that be possible, a whole headmaster who is not interested in knowing how well the school had performed,” he added.

He said it was important for headmasters to know the performances of their schools to enable them to plan ahead and improve in the previous performance.

Dr Adutwum said in line with the reforms, any teacher who aspires to be a headmaster or headmistress would have to undergo a compulsory professional training course to be equipped with the needed skills to manage a school.

According to the Deputy Minister, if the performance of a headmaster or headmistress was not encouraging, in terms of consistent failure in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations, that headmaster or headmistress would be re-assigned.

He believed that as a headmaster or headmistress, productivity and performance should be the key consideration in promotion and not only focusing on the number of years served.

Dr Adutwum said the government would soon introduce a system to rank Senior High Schools in the country, adding that, the approach would be a nationwide ranking of schools as well as a ranking of similar schools.

He explained that the top schools with the same facilities and infrastructure would be ranked together while the so-called lower schools would also be ranked together.

The Deputy Minister said the aim of the ranking was to help schools with the lowest ranking to learn from best practices and improve upon their performance and the educational sector as a whole.

He said other reforms include understanding diverse or specialised learner’s background, gifted and talented education and the transformation of the inner city schools.

He said all these reforms were in line with the government’s free Senior High School policy to improve the country’s educational curriculum.

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Source: GNA

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But a Senior Research Fellow at ISSER, Dr. Nana Akua Anyidoho, acknowledged that using examination results as an indicator of quality was “very narrow and very limited.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”vgZewUGic0CstQoiRElUSPMpcVw1EmXy”]In its 2016 Ghana Social Development Outlook, ISSER noted that, the four-year system afforded students a better transition from the junior high to the senior high level.

The duration of secondary education is once again up for debate after the Minister for Planning, Dr. George Gyan Baffuor, hinted of a possible third review of the duration.

The New Patriotic Party administration under John Kufuor introduced the four-year SHS duration in 2007, however, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reverted to the three-year system after it regained power in 2009.

Speaking at the launch of the Outlook, Dr. Anyidoho noted analysis of West African Examination Council (WAEC) data indicating that “the four-year duration for senior high schools does produce better examination results, that is if you are using examination results as an indicator of quality.”

She said the analysis “puts this down to the fact that the four-year SHS programme gives SHS students more time to transition and to go through the curriculum before the terminal examination which can take up a large part of the final year of school.”

The research recommended a year-long revision of the Junior High School curriculum at the beginning of SHS for students who need it, and an accelerated three-year certificate for students who don’t need the revision.

The report, however called for a national dialogue on the relevance and direction of the education system. It particularly advised that the nature and form of tertiary education must be re-examined.

“We make a number of recommendations. Pay more attention to tertiary education. Pay more attention to quality, especially learning outcomes. Pay more attention to equity issues and also have a long-term strategy for education that is relevant to both individuals and national aspirations.”

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Minister of Planning, Professor Gyan Baffour on Wednesday revealed that government is monitoring the three-year SHS system to inform a possible review to back to four years.

[contextly_sidebar id=”R5bkZc9epcGAoaKnDJL1JHXWYFD0T9NA”]The NPP administration under President John Kufuor introduced the 4-year Senior High School programme in 2007. However, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) reverted to the 3-year system after it regained power in 2009.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghana Social Development Outlook 2016 at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, Prof. Gyan Baffour noted that, the limited time allotted for secondary education inhibited a thorough treatment of the syllabus.

The first cause of action for the government is to assess how effective the three years is being used.

The Minster noted that, the three years under the current system, is effectively about two-and-a-half-years, so the government will look “to make sure that this ‘three years’ [actually] becomes almost three years.”

“The time lost, we have to make it up. That is the first thing that we are trying to do now, and based on that, we can now use the analysis that they do after that time, to see what the public thinks and to decide on whether we move for three years or four years.”

This assessment will find out whether if they are given enough time within the three-year period, the students will do better than they have been doing with the two-and-half-year period.

Cost won’t be a problem

The government is already implementing its major educational reform with the free SHS policy, and Prof. Baffour reminded that these interventions in secondary education are to make sure that money is not an obstruction to parents and their wards.

Thus if a change to four years is deemed necessary, then money will not be considered a problem, in line with providing quality education, in addition to the free education.

He further suggested that public opinion could play a part in whether the change in duration happens.

“…If it is found out the four years is better than three years in training our children, then money should not be the basis in denying them that four years… It is not only access, but it also includes quality, and if it is four years that will give them quality and that is what the people want, so be it.”

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By: Sixtus Dong Ullo/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The group, National Association of Institutional Suppliers, said they have over the years supplied various items to schools through procurement processes with the individual schools and the Ghana Education Service. 

They said the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme will kick them out of business due to the fact that government will give larger companies the contract to procure the needed resources for the schools. 

The National Public Relations Officer of the group, Isaac Antwi Boasiako, said their small scale enterprises may suffer unfair market competition with bigger vendors if the government does nothing to protect them. 

He told Citi News that the government must assist them to stay in business since they have enough experience in the field. 

“You remember some of the books are already being shared? I mean social studies books. Now, who won the bid? Was the contract advertised? These are our concerns. If they want to unify everything let us all have a fair share of the contracts and it must be publicized. We have supported the schools for many years so we need to be recognized and at the same time kept in the system” he stated

The Free Senior High School is a flagship program of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which aims at expanding access to education by ensuring that all students pursue secondary education at no cost to the individual. 

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By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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