There is a video posted on our WhatsApp platform of the Ghana School of Law Class 2002.
In the video, a lady by the name of Dr Brew, said to be a Development Paediatrician, tells a story that demands the attention of educationists, especially those with interest in basic education.
She talks about a well-structured curriculum to enable pupils to complete basic Junior High School at 15 and Senior High School at 18.
However, her complaint is that in recent times, pupils who have barely finished JSS are gaining admission to universities at age 15.
She is thus heard bemoaning the development and asking what has gone wrong or what is pushing parents to cheat the system to get their children to take the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and even the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) out of turn instead of systematically following the structure and the course content developed for the purpose of ensuring that students enter the universities at age 18, after going through the thorough and elaborate course packages established to underpin the Junior High School (JSS) and Senior High School (SHS) programmes respectively.
According to Dr Brew, a parent recently approached her for a medical report about his son, who is 15 and had gained admission to the university. It was when she tried to find out how a young boy of that age could gain admission to the university that she saw the window, which, to her, is destructive to the future of a large number of children aged 15 years entering our universities. The children are gaining admission not necessarily because they are exceptional but because the parents resorted to fraud and cheating.
Dr Brew, in looking at the student brought to her for the report, found out that the practice is endemic. The student she was handling was in JSS 2 when he was made to write the BECE.
He passed, and thus, instead of proceeding to JSS 3, he exited and entered SHS1.
Again, at SHS 2, he was registered to sit for the WASSCE, which he also passed and gained admission to the university.
The trend of students as young as 15 gaining admission to universities rather than Senior High Schools (SHSs) follows a similar pattern.
According to Dr Brew, the crux of the matter is not necessarily that these students are exceptional or pursuing specialised programmes, but that they are enrolling in ordinary courses.
Why, then, do we rush ordinary students into university to pursue common programmes?
Dr Brew expressed concern about the potential consequences for a 15-year-old who may not yet have the maturity to organise or control themselves in an environment where they are presumed to be mature and left to their own devices.
Who guides?
Who, then, guides these students on their daily responsibilities, including taking prescribed medication?
While parents rush their immature children into environments that offer academic freedom, even at the most critical stages of their lives when they need guidance, control and supervision, universities are not prepared to assume responsibility beyond academic training.
Thus, while parents may bask in the glory and pride of having exceptionally young children at university, the potential consequences for the children are often overlooked.
That is the concern Dr Brew is urging society not to ignore or dismiss, warning that the repercussions could eventually come back to haunt us all.
The concerns raised by Dr Brew are necessary because where children are not allowed to grow through the natural stages from childhood, teenage years through to youth and adulthood, many of them become liabilities, and instead of adults taking responsibility for misdirecting them, we blame the young.
The educational system was reformed, and the number of years of formal schooling was reduced essentially to take into account the age of students to match their basic educational levels.
Definitely, once in a while, a gem will arise and immediately be recognised.
But it cannot be that any average student must be encouraged to cheat. Unfortunately, policies and programmes intended to expose such situations are seldom enforced.
Why should a parent be persuaded to register a child of about 13 years to write the BECE, when the age limit is supposed to be 15 years?
A few months' difference might not arouse or attract suspicion, but the way it is being handled in recent times is detrimental to the future of students.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) must take the concerns of Dr Brew seriously and mount a crusade to eliminate all such practices since they are corruptible.
The total of parents and school authorities conspiring to register unqualified pupils to take part in the BECE is as criminal as answering questions for students in the examination halls.
Nor is it any different from those who encourage and support candidates to carry foreign materials into examination rooms.
It should not be difficult for the GES to collaborate with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), since, according to Dr Brew, Nigeria has a strong policy to ensure that no child cheats through age at the minimum level to ensure that there is no room for abuse of age.
There is a minimum age at which pupils can sit for the first time for the BECE, but thereafter, older persons must not be discouraged from participating in the examination for as long as it serves as the only route to formal education in an official, organised and structured manner.
It is not for nothing that our educational system provides for Creche, Nursery and KG, six years of primary, three years of JSS and three years of SHS with four years of university education.
Dr Brew has raised a pertinent issue, and we must take it seriously to avoid a future of chaos.
There is no need to rush our children through the educational system when it has been programmed to grow with them.
