National prospectus for students: Step in the right direction
That the Ghana Education Service (GES) in partnership with some key stakeholders has developed a single prospectus for all prospective first-year senior high school (SHS) students in the country has come as a huge relief to parents and guardians.
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By implication, all SHSs are required to adopt and adhere to a standardised prospectus and to desist from imposing items other than those prescribed by the GES on their prospectus.
The Daily Graphic sees it as a step in the right direction because formerly parents and guardians had to wait until the release of the Computerised School Selection and Placement (CSSP) before they could go to the various schools for the prospectus to begin acquiring the items.
That arrangement created a major challenge for parents by way of mobilising finances and came with some inconvenience.
It was also the major reason first-year students reported to school late, since parents had to wait for the prospectus.
But with the national prospectus, even before CSSP is out, parents already know the items their children and wards would require and, therefore, can start buying while they wait for the placement.
Without a doubt, this is an innovative and proactive move by the GES and we hope parents and guardians will take advantage of it to avoid the last-minute panic buying and delays that used to characterise the admission process of first-year students.
The national prospectus brings to an end the situation where some schools used to include items such as buckets of paint and bags of cement, thereby raising the amount of money needed to buy all the items demanded in the prospectus to an unimaginable level.
In the past, some schools used to take the opportunity to renovate some of their structures from the items the freshers were tasked to provide.
For the Director-General of the GES, Dr Eric Nkansah, the cost of the items in the prospectus is within the reach of parents and he is convinced that the situation where parents spent a fortune on prospectus belonged to the past.
Indeed, with the introduction of the national prospectus, parents and guardians are empowered to question schools that demand certain items that are inconsistent with the national prospectus.
This prospectus is a test case for the GES to stamp its authority on the administration and management of schools in the country.
We expect the GES to be firm and get all heads of second cycle schools to strictly abide by this prospectus.
The GES must not countenance any deviant behaviour of a headmaster or headmistress on account that his or her school requires different items not included in the prospectus.
The heads of the schools must allow this to work.
It will be very unfortunate for any head to attract headlines in the media for the wrong reasons which will also warrant a punitive action by the GES.
The Daily Graphic is happy that the GES consulted and engaged fully the key stakeholders in the development of the prospectus.
The involvement of the Conference of Heads of Government Assisted Secondary Schools, a major stakeholder and implementor of the prospectus, as well as other key agencies such as the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment and, the Free SHS Secretariat, among others, is a major step towards ensuring the sustenance of the national prospectus.
Obviously, as the first of its kind, there are bound to be hitches but it is up to all stakeholders to be committed to the national document by addressing the few challenges that may crop up.
All stakeholders must help the national prospectus to work.
