Wholesale admission into second cycle school must be reviewed – Retired GES Director

The wholesale admission of students into the second cycle schools is a major contributory factor to the recent abysmal academic performance and the growing indiscipline in the schools.

“We are not performing very well not only because we are not working so hard, but sometimes national policies are a contributory factor. There are certain policies that are not helping education at all and need a second look, especially the wholesale admission into senior high schools”.

Mr Edward Kweku Azure, the immediate past retired Upper East Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), said this in Bolgatanga at a send-off party organised for him by the Regional Director of the GES.

Mr Azure, a teacher by profession, was in charge of the Upper East Regional Directorate of the GES as the Regional Director from August 2020 until his retirement in November 2022.

He explained that some of the students who performed poorly in the Basic Education Certificate Examination and yet gained admission into the second cycle schools, seemed compelled to further their formal education and the situation was not helping.

“Some students go on to senior high school because they are forced to. They know that if they get eight in all the subjects, they are qualified to go to the senior school and they go there to cause all sorts of problems in the schools.

“This is why we have a lot of problems in our second-cycle schools,” he said.

Notwithstanding, the Retired Educationist, noted that the negative attitudes of major stakeholders including education administrators, teachers, parents, traditional authorities, community members and students, also contributed to the poor performances in the schools.

He cited instances where some final year students who had been registered for examination would often go and work in illegal mining sites, neglecting their studies and hoping that when they would be allowed to cheat in their examination, saying it was a bad attitude that needed serious redress.

He urged teachers to take their refresher training seriously to help enhance their skills with modern teaching techniques.

Mr Bright Lawoe, the current Upper East Regional Director of the GES, commended Mr Azure for his contribution towards improving the educational standards in the region during his time.

He described him as someone who operated participatory leadership and was always committed to his work.

Mr Lawoe said the directorate was currently undertaking some reforms as part of measures towards addressing challenges that confronted education in the region.

He said his outfit in collaboration with the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council would soon organise an education fair to bring major stakeholders in education together to deliberate on how to address the falling standard of education in the region.

Mr Simon Amokase, the North-East Regional Director of the GES, who represented all regional directors of education across the country, urged all stakeholders to play a crucial role in improving educational standards nationwide.

Mr Paul Apanga, a retired educationist, encouraged teacher unions to take a keen interest in the ongoing conversation about the mass failure of teachers who took part in the teacher licensure examination.

He said some of those who took part in the examination were not teachers yet, as many of them had not completed the colleges of education and the distinction needed to be made clear in order not to mislead the public.