Minister flaws Catholic Bishops

The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr. Omane Boamah has said even though he is a catholic, he did not agree with the position taken by the Catholic Bishops to revert the current duration of 3 year S.H.S to 4 years.
According to him, it is not about the duration of years spent in school that will enhance the quality of education but the available logistics put in place by government and stakeholders of the country’s educational system.
The Catholic Bishops Conference, in a communiqué issued at the end of their Annual Plenary Assembly held in Takoradi, called on the government to suspend its decision to reintroduce the three-year SHS. The Conference also called for the abolition of the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. Charles Palmer Buckle said “education is our biggest heritage. If we keep politicizing education, in the next 10 years, you and I will suffer the consequences”.
But speaking on “Good Morning Ghana” programme on Metro TV, Dr. Omane Boamah said performances from some schools especially the well-endowed ones have proved that provision of logistics, incentives to teachers, infrastructure, and discipline were the key to success and the enhancement of quality education and not necessarily the number of years in school.
“It is about logistics and not number of years. Even if you make it five years, it will be the same and it will even over-burden government and parents. If the foundation is poor, the end result will also be poor”, he added.
Another panel member, Samuel Abu Jinapor, a member of the Communications Team of the opposition NPP, also a catholic agreed with the position taken by the Catholic Bishops adding “government ought to have experimented with the four year system for some time before reversing to the old system”.
He said he is looking forward to a day in Ghana where stakeholders, opinion leaders, all political parties will sit on a platform and discuss issues of education without a political lens.
Education Minister Betty Mould Iddrisu, a staunch Catholic herself has rejected calls to revert to the four-year Senior High School system stating “this government is committed to the three-year system. We have amended the laws and we did our research; we are satisfied that with the policies that we are going to put into place, there will be improvement in the overall education of our wards, of the children, with the three-year system”.