NPP blames NDC on SHS challenges

THE New Patriotic Party (NPP) has blamed the NDC for the current challenges facing the admission of first year senior high school students.
It said the neglect of the four-year SHS system by the NDC was just to score cheap political point at the expense of the future of Ghanaian students and the nation.
Prof. Dominic Fobih, a former Minister of Education in the Kufuor Administration stated this at a press conference by the party to address issues about the change in the duration of the SHS from four years to three years in Accra today.
He described the change as a calculated decision by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to neglect the four-year SHS system just to score cheap political point at the expense of the future of the nation.
Prof. Fobih said the NPP started implementing some policies and programmes to cater for the 4-year SHS programme, but the NDC’s deliberate neglect and lack of interest had brought about the present predicament in which the SHS heads, parents and students find themselves.
He said one of the negative consequence of the NDC government’s intransigence on this matter would be that, in 2013, two batches of SHS graduates, the three year group and the four year group, would come out. This, he said would have serious implications for admissions to tertiary education.
Prof. Fobih said enough enthusiasm and commitment was invested into the change but the posture adopted by the NDC government immediately it took office through pronouncement on the reversal of the SHS from four to three years dampened the enthusiasm of institutions and stakeholders.
Touching on the eight-point-NPP government preparations well before the introduction of the 4-year SHS, he said an implementation plan was prepared, detailing the specific requirements for infrastructure, teacher supply, textbooks, syllabuses, teaching and learning materials to be given attention.
Prof. Fobih added that the 4-year SHS syllabus and textbooks were prepared and sent to SHS, teacher training colleges were converted to Diploma awarding institutions and their infrastructure upgraded while the government also embarked on massive building of basic and secondary school classrooms and the initiation of Model SHS of which 31 were completed and 25 were also at various stages of completion.
“The NPP government as far back as 2008 initiated discussions with heads of schools, Vice Chancellors and the West Africa Examination’s Council on how to manage the transition from three to the four years and the challenges inherent in the change,” Prof. Dominic Fobih said.
According to the former Education Minister, the NPP embarked on massive expansion in tertiary institutions’ infrastructure. Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to cater for the anticipated expansion in access’, he added.
Prof. Fobih said in 1994, when serious difficulties were encountered in the system regarding the quality of education at both the junior and senior high school levels, the De-Heer Amissah Committee’s recommended for a four-year programme but it was rejected.
He said the NDC had always quoted wrongly the NPP Presidential Commission Report’s conclusion to support its manifesto pledge to reduce the four year to three.
He said the committee’s reference to a three-year duration was conditional and listed deficiencies to be address before the implementation of the three year programme.
Prof. Fobih mentioned the deficiencies that should be addressed before the three-year could be implemented to include, inadequate teaching and learning facilities, poor infrastructure facilities, low number of well-motivated and committed teachers, poor management and supervisions.
He added that the committee also noted that for the implementation of a three-year SHS, the government must also rectify the problem of inadequate human resources and material resources supply in all SHS in the country so that no school was disadvantaged.
He said despite the NDC’s government rush to reduce the years, no appreciable improvement had occurred at either JHS or at SHS level and that available data showed that 48 per cent of JHS students failed the BECE, 40 per cent only pass with aggregate 30, 60 per cent of JHS students lack basic literacy skills and many JHS scored zero at the BECE.
He asked that what then was the evidence that supports that government’s position that all was well in the schools for a 3-year SHS duration to be adopted when at the SHS also the situation was even worse.
According to him, 70 per cent of students who passed WASSCE did not do so with more than one sitting at the same time 80 per cent of entrants into tertiary institutions were from just the top 50 SHS out of the 495.
With teacher deficit, he said in 2010 out of the 33,185 teacher vacancies declared, only 8,625 trained teachers were expected back into the system. About 23,988 pupil-teachers expected to fill the vacancies this year only 3,000 were approved by government leaving a deficit of 20,988 pupil-teachers.