There should be equitable distribution of facilities in all senior high schools to make them attractive to students, the immediate-past President of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Mr Samuel Ofori-Adjei, has said.
According to him, a few schools were under pressure from a large number of students who continuously selected such schools because of the kind of facilities available and the popularity of those schools.
“There should be equal distribution of facilities so that the deprived schools also enjoy better facilities like the popular schools. If we do not do that, we would continue to have the problem where a lot of students choose the best schools,” he told the Junior Graphic.
Mr Ofori-Adjei, who is the headmaster of Accra Academy, explained that because of the poor facilities in the lesser known or deprived schools, candidates with good grades in the BECE did not show up in such schools when posted there.
“I had that experience when I was at Ebenezer SHS. Students who choose such schools as their first choice do not report at all when they make good grades in the BECE,” he said. He, therefore, stressed the need for “all SHSs to be brought up to a particular level to be attractive to all”.
Mr Ofori-Adjei said, the rationale behind the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) was an excellent one but human interference was eroding its gains.
He explained that placing candidates in SHSs based on merit was good, however, the abuse from people through interference was a problem.
“If we all take our hands off the system, it would be good. There is clear evidence that people use their positions to get certain schools. If we are able to overcome that, we would have a perfect system,” he added.
Mr Ofori-Adjei called for a critical look at the boarding school system as well as the country’s transportation system since it was evident that most parents wanted boarding schools for their children because of the inefficient transportation system which delayed the movement of people.
Another worry of heads of schools, he said, was the delay in the release of the placement of students to schools.
He said instead of schools having their full complement of students at the beginning of the academic year, “you have most students coming in at the end of November. In some cases some schools get their full complement of students in the second term of the academic year”.
As candidates select schools for placement this year, he advised them not to be obsessed with the top schools because there were good teachers in all schools across the country.
