EduWatch Proposes A 6-Year SHS System To Bridge Rural-urban Gap At JHS

EduWatch Proposes A 6-Year SHS System To Bridge Rural-urban Gap At JHS.

The Executive Director of Africa Educational Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare has proposed a 6- year Senior High School System to enable more learning time and bridge the rural-urban gap at JHS.

“The Ministry of Education GH has been discussing secondary education reforms to strengthen JHS, the weakest link in Ghana’s education system.

Eduwatch believes an equitable strategy to improve access to, and the quality of JHS while bridging the rural-urban gap at JHS is a 6-year SHS system to enable more learning time in a well supervised, better resourced environment compared to JHS which do not even exist in 25% of primary schools nationally, and 40% up north.

After primary school, students move to secondary 1, using the B6 NST results for placement. A similar system existed in Ghana until 1996, but still exists in Nigeria, the highest WASSCE performer.

This proposal entails doubling our SHS population by adding form 4-6, reducing our basic education population by subtracting JHS 1-3, and adding the JHS budget (about 15% of the education budget) to secondary (about 25% of the education budget). The school becomes a secondary school.

We can achieve spending efficiency by limiting free SHS to only public B6 pupils, increasing day school students in urban areas, and continuing expanding SHS infrastructure. A 50% discount can be given to private B6 students.”

The Executive Director of Africa Educational Watch ended by announcing EduWatch‘s First Policy Brief for 2022. He said the Policy Brief  will explore and analyze the possibilities and implications on equitable access, quality, financing and sustainability.

Source: gh.operanews