Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the former Minister of Education, has weighed in on the Senior High Schools (SHSs) placement brouhaha.
According to Adutwum, Ghana need to expand and upgrade Senior High Schools (SHSs) across the country to address the growing pressure on placement in Category A schools.
He highlighted that there is a need to look beyond the immediate placement exercise and address the underlying problem of limited access to highly sought-after Category A schools.
The former education minister highlighted that upgrading existing schools and giving them the necessary resources will help spread demand and reduce the intense competition for places in Category A schools.
Speaking on Adom FM, Dr Adutwum stated, “Everyone wants the child to go to a first-class school, so when we were in government we built more schools and resourced them and also affiliated a headmaster with a Category A school”.
“So, like what we did at Abomosu SHS, we replicate PRESEC at Abomosu, so it was one of the best STEM schools in Ghana,” he said.
“There should be a formal arrangement for deliberate presentation of over four days; nobody asked me about the STEM schools. There should be an intentional transition arrangement,” he said.
He further noted that schools currently do not provide enough opportunities for students who struggle in particular subjects to receive interventions or retake courses.
Adutwum added, “We don’t give children any intervention to resit courses in school during the school term”.
“So, if they fail Mathematics, it is not new, that was why we wanted to introduce transcripts alongside the WASSCE results,” he said.
“Other countries have deliberate policies; in Ghana we politicise even education,” he said.
Meanwhile, Some parents whose children are yet to secure placement into Senior High Schools (SHSs) have stormed the GNAT Hall in Accra, breaking a glass door over the placement brouhaha.
According to reports, the frustrated parents who besieged the GNAT Hall to address concerns from parents and candidates facing difficulties with the placement process led to a glass door at the entrance of the facility breaking.
The heavy crowd at the GNAT Hall underscores the level of frustration and desperation among some parents who have been struggling to secure placements for their wards.
Some affected parents have expressed dissatisfaction with the placement process, appealing to the authorities to take immediate steps to resolve the outstanding placement challenges.
The parents are appealing to the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Education and President John Dramani Mahama to urgently intervene in the ongoing placement challenges.
Meanwhile, the Conference of Heads (Proprietors) of Private Second-Cycle Schools (CHOPSS) has published the list of private SHSs in good standing as 54,985 BECE candidates miss placement.
CHOPSS list covers schools operating across 14 regions of Ghana, including Ahafo, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern, Oti, Upper East, Upper West, Volta, Western and Western North.
According to CHOPSS, the publication is to make member schools more available to the public, particularly families preparing to make decisions about senior high school education.
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