Bridging equity gap in secondary education in Ghana (1)
Fifty years ago, when it was time to sit for the common entrance examination to gain admission into secondary school, each candidate was advised to choose one of the Grade A schools and then the second and third choice from the list of all other schools. In later years you had to chose a region.
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The grade A schools included Achimota School and Accra Academy in the Greater Accra region. From the Central Region were Adisadel, Mfantsipim, Wesley Girls, Holy Child and St Augustine's College. Prempeh College, Opoku Ware and St Monica's from the Ashanti region, Mawuli from the Volta region, St Peter's and Presec then in Krobo Odumase in the Eastern region, Ghana Secondary Technical School from the Western region.
None of the schools from the Brong Ahafo and northern regions then were categorised. The basis of the categorisation were most likely standards and output. The number of schools in Ghana have since increased exponentially and as is to be expected, the categorisa
The aim of every child preparing for secondary education and parents then and now, is somehow to get into one of the Grade A schools except in cases where everybody within miles of the location of the basic school (primary/JSS) including even the teachers in the vicinity, is oblivious of the existence of such schools.
The fact the categorisations exist in the public school system and is by default acceptable to all Ghanaians and the government has been for me one of the greatest challenges. We have all accepted and perpetuated such great inequality. In many other jurisdictions, where most secondary schools are either private, faith-based, community or trust schools, it is difficult to compare but in Ghana, most are public schools and therefore the inequity should be unacceptable.
Less endowed schools
We all know there are many secondary schools whose graduates have never entered a tertiary institution in Ghana before and yet we allow such schools to continue to be in existence with parents scrounging to pay fees that yield them nothing and headmasters/head-mistresses who are proud as heads and attend Committee of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) meetings as members. It is a bit like a District Director of Education in whose district no student has ever passed the basic education certificate examination(BECE) but continues to work as if nothing has happened and nothing gets done to him or her.
Ghanaian students currently preparing for the BECE have to select four schools and the placement is through the computerised school selection and placement system (CSSPS). The four choices must come from the three options and there are conditions for selection; you cannot choose more than one from option three, you cannot choose more than two schools from option two but you may choose all four schools from option one. Option three from this categorisation must be the top schools, option two; the middle category schools and option one; the lower category schools.
It is understandable the number of persons who will choose a school like Presec, Legon, as their first choice as compared to Dadieso Senior High School (SHS) or Jukwa SHS. In last year's selection, Presec, Legon, had 13,213 students choosing it as a first choice with a declared vacancy of 600 while only 247 and 150 chose Dadieso and Jukwa SHS with a declared vacancy of 450 and 600.
It is almost 50 years since I passed common entrance and went to Prempeh College and many students had to go to less endowed schools. For some it did not matter because they were able to pass and move to Grade A schools for sixth form and then made it to their preferred programmes in the university. For others it was the beginning of their difficulties. In over 50 years, very little, if anything, has been done to bridge this huge equity gap particularly at this time when there is no sixth form to mitigate the challenge.
Private JHS vrs Public JHS
In 1966, 147 students were admitted into Prempeh College. Only 10 per cent of the students were from private preparatory schools. The vast majority were from public primary/middle 'cyto' schools then. Now, there has been a complete reversal. 95 per cent of admissions to Prempeh College and any of the grade A schools come from private Junior High Schools (JHS) schools. The 1966 group was divided into four streams, each class with 36 or 37 students. 80 per cent of this group entered university in 1973 and a few more came the following year. Most of those who did not come to the university joined the banks, insurance, audit and accountancy. Very few did not make it through the continuing educational system but of course they have made it in business and in other endeavours. Such is the opportunity such schools provided for their students. The same cannot be said for the many other schools.
So what happens to pupils of the numerous public JHS institutions. The primary/JHS education discriminates against those in public schools and then in admissions into public secondary education it again treats those from public schools abysmally.
The nation cannot sit idle and accept the equity gap. There must be strenuous efforts to bridge the gap fairly and squarely.
I know infrastructural development through the GETFund, supply of computers to schools and in some cases provision of Internet facility and great support from Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) and old students have attempted to slow down the widening gap.
Many years ago when Otumfuo announced the Otumfuo Educational Fund, I made a proposal for the provision of bursaries to the deserving students rather than full payment of school fees; I believe in parental responsibility. It was important that funds be set aside to improve the less endowed schools through a 'mothering strategy'. The good schools in Ashanti could each adopt about 10 to 15 schools into a cluster. So for example Prempeh College will have its cluster, Opoku Ware SHS, TI Ahmadiyya, St Louis, St Monica's and Yaa Asantewaa SHS will all have clusters. Each cluster will meet for a month during the long vacation and have seasoned lectures from the Univeristy of Ghana, Legon, Univeristy of Cape Coast and University of Education, Winneba, to upgrade teaching methods. They can share notes together and organise the same examinations within the cluster. Over the years I believe it will help improve the standards and output of the less endowed schools. Although the suggestion was not embraced I had always thought of what was possible.