A communiqué from the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference is urging the government to bring back the O and A level system of education
The bishops consider the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level education systems as “better than what we currently have”.
“Ghana has been subjected to an inferior form of education through the JHS and SHS for many years,” the bishops said, adding: “We call the JHS and SHS educational system an inferior form of education because many politicians and well-to-do Ghanaians do not subject their children to the current JHS and SHS system. Instead, they take their children to schools that do ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level because they can afford to.
“If JHS and SHS was not an inferior form of education, why do they take their children out of it when they have the money to do so?
“We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because the quality of the products of the schools and the universities today, leaves much to be desired. Any employer today knows that there are many of our graduates who cannot even read and write English properly. D. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because prestigious schools in Ghana (like Wesley Girls’ High School) do their own entrance examination to screen their students.
“Why would they do another screening examination if the JHS results could be trusted? It is obvious that even the secondary schools do not trust the JHS system. e. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because universities do their own entrance examination to screen their students. Why do the medical schools do another examination after the SHS results?
“Under the old system, the ‘A’ level results were accepted as the basis for entrance into the university. It is obvious that the universities do not trust the SHS system and that is why they do an entrance examination for medical school. f. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because international universities require our SHS graduates to do a foundational course for a whole year before admitting them to the university proper. Years ago, graduates from secondary schools in Ghana did not have to do such foundational courses because they already had a good foundation. g. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because of the quality of the examinations which they write. h. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because we have reason to doubt the current ability of the WAEC to conduct credible examinations.”
It is common knowledge, they added that the examinations are “flawed with serious leakages, such that many students today do not know how to study, unless they have seen leaked papers”.
The bishops have, therefore, made the following recommendations:
The government should create an educational system that all Ghanaians will be happy to use. Internationally accepted ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level examinations were not special things in Ghana, and were done everywhere including Swedru, Bolgatanga, Breman-Asikuma, and Half-Assini. It should not be that politicians create an inferior educational system but send their children to GIS, TIS, and SOS to be trained. After 60 years, it should not be that ‘O’ and ‘A’ Level examinations are done only by the richest Ghanaians and politicians in power, whilst the rest of the nation’s children are subject to an inferior education that leaves them poorly trained. If the current education was not sub-standard, politicians would not have to pay about GHS80,000 a year to put their children in schools such as GIS, SOS, and TIS just to do ‘O’ Levels, and then send them abroad to universities.
We, therefore, urge the government to re-introduce ‘O’ and ‘A’ level to ordinary schools. How shall we do this:
a. Change the JHS and SHS syllabus to be similar or identical with ‘O’ and ‘A’ level subjects.
b. Let the teachers of JHS and SHS upgrade their skills to teach this new syllabus. With little effort, all JHS and SHS teachers will be able to teach ‘O’ and ‘A’ level syllabus. Ordinary teachers in Ghana were teaching ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level syllabus before.
c. Allow the JHS to end in ‘O’ level examination and the SHS to end in ‘A’ level examination.
d. Allow every school to choose its examination council, whether WAEC or IGCSE. The competition will cause the West African Examinations Council to upgrade, so that the leakages that have undermined the credibility of JHS and SHS examinations will cease. It is common knowledge that examinations by the West African Examinations Council are flawed by massive leakages that have severely damaged the credibility of the educational system.
e. Schools who choose the international examination council and certificates will obviously pay more.
f. If the steps above are taken many more Ghanaians will have a good/international education.
g. If the steps above are taken, Ghana’s universities will have greater credibility and higher standards. Then, many countries in Africa will send their children to Ghana to be educated, and education will become a great source of income to Ghana, just as it is for England.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
