Free SHS-My Thoughts.

Free SHS Education-Is it Possible?

During the IEA encounter with the electorate, the flag bearer of New Patriotic, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo-Addo mentioned the free senior high school (SHS) education policy as one of his intended policies he will implement when given the nod to rule this country come January 2013.  This has not been the only platform on which the Hon. Nana Akuffo-Addo has stated this; he has done this on every electioneering platform since 2008.

Nana’s policy is a noble idea but not a novelty and I believe he has good intentions for the people of this country. But very characteristic of Ghanaians the debate has been politicized along NPP-NDC lines. You are susceptible to be labeled NDC or NPP depending on whether you disagree or agree with the possibility of free SHS education. Worse of all those so called party faithful, serial callers and some social commentators have taken entrenched positions on the issue depending on which side they belong.

Is this party labeling fair? Even if one belongs to a political party, does that person not have the right to speak his mind objectively without being reminded the party he belongs to? Our partisan attitude has created a gag order making it impossible for experts and professionals to speak their minds on some of these pertinent issues that confront our country. Our political landscape is fraught with politicians who have no political conviction of how they can solve our problems.

So is free SHS education possible in Ghana? In my opinion it is possible in the long term if certain pressing issues that confront our educational system are taken care of first.

A major problem facing our educational system today is the focus on quantity neglecting quality. It is obvious that the NPP’s policy on education is inherently going to perpetuate this quantitative aspect of educational policy. It is good that we all go to school but pushing everyone to go to school for the sake of getting ‘education’ is not enough. Education if properly given should equip the educated with employable skills or ability to create employment.

School drop out is not just the result of inability to pay fees. There are a lot of other factors that cause children to drop out of school. Children may drop out of school because the school system is not challenging enough. Brilliant children who exhibit unusual behaviors have been branded as ‘witches and wizards’ and are forced to drop out of school. Our social attitudes and perception of the educated have forced so many children out of school. In communities where the most respected or rich person is not an educated person children consider going to school a waste of time because they believe one can succeed without education. Certain cultural and religious practices are also contributing factors to why some children drop out of school. Therefore basing the introduction of free SHS education on a single story of inability to pay fees is not enough.

Today while basic education is free and compulsory we know that not all children are in school. We can pat ourselves on the shoulder, however, since Ghana’s basic school enrolment is rated among the best in Africa. Our primary school enrolment is about ninety-five percent. Unfortunately our students have performed abysmally in international exams in basic math and science skills. Ghana’s educational system is ranked 148^th out of 181 in the world below countries like Equatorial Guinea and Namibia.

We also know that, though basic education is free some parents have their wards enrolled in private schools that charge exorbitant fees. Such parents are prepared to pay any amount of money to have the wards educated.  The reality is that majority of the public schools are producing a lot of illiterate graduates who can not read or write. The BECE results attest to this phenomenon.  Majority of these schools are found in the rural areas. The situation is that the gap between the rich and the poor, urban and rural is widening as a result of the kind of education they are receiving. 

Our quality of education is very poor as a result of many factors. One of these is teacher quality at the basic school level especially lower primary. The NPP cannot absolve itself of contributing to the problem when they created an ad-hoc solution of employing unqualified teachers to teach in their youth employment program.  When we continue finding makeshift solutions to problems we end up creating more problems. And one such solution is employing people who cannot even write their own names to teach in the lower primary because these are children who do not know anything. We forget that these years are formative years of the child, when the foundation is weak they grow up not knowing basic knowledge required to succeed at a higher level.

Another factor is not necessary infrastructure, even though this is eminent in the rural areas, but other conducive facilities that facilitate teaching and learning. Every child needs books to augment what is taught in school. In this age of information and technology children need access to computers. The reforms that introduced the JHS and SHS concept revised the curriculum and introduced the study of ICT at the JHS level. Computer studies which was also part of the Integrated Science syllabus at the SHS as level was decoupled and introduced as a subject on its own. Majority of schools mostly at the JHS level and the SHS in rural areas cannot boast of computer laboratories to facilitate the study of the subject.

Despite the employment of unqualified teachers to fill classrooms that are empty we have teacher deficit in this country. This teacher deficit does not occur in urban areas but in the rural areas of this country. In fact schools in urban areas are choked with teachers who do less work compared to their counterparts in the rural areas. Most teachers are not ready to accept posting to the remote parts of this country because it is a disincentive to work in this part of the country. Apart form the abundance of foodstuffs there is no opportunity for those teachers in the rural areas to upgrade their knowledge and improve their personal lives.

The School Feeding program and the Capitation Grant were very important interventions introduced by the NPP government to encourage children to go to school. These programs are being continued and expanded by the NDC government. We also know that the SHS boarding fees and some other fees are being subsidized by the government for the running of secondary schools in the country. But these programs are fraught with serious problems forcing some of the schools to borrow money to run their schools. And when they schools cannot pay they are forced to closed until government pays them.

I believe that the introduction of free SHS education will only reinforced the widening gap between urban rich schools and rural poor schools. Majority of the people who attend these schools in the city are the ones who go to prestigious private schools in the city. Schools that charged exorbitant fees but affordable by the elite in our society. It is a fact that the computer selection and placement program that selects students to SHS have never picked a student who hails from a school in a rural area who had aggregate 20 and place the child in Achimota school.

The free SHS education will also create an avenue for the proliferation of private senior high schools which may be producing more quality students than the public ones. The signs are already there. We know what is happening at the basic school level. Virtually every basic private school outperforms the public schools at the BECE exams. Parents are ready to send their wards to these schools. It is no doubt that such a situation will arise with introduction of the free SHS education. We should be wary so that we do not create a society where the minority elite and their children get access to the best things of this country while the majority poor get access to the worse. Every Ghanaian child deserves the best and that does not necessary mean free SHS education.

Today JHS graduates, SHS graduates, technical and vocational graduates, polytechnic graduates and university graduates are being turned out everyday. What skills have they acquired to meet the job opportunities of today’s world? The NPP promises job creation based on manufacturing. Will our mass production of graduates through the free SHS be equipped with the right skills to be employed in the manufacturing industries? Will our universities be able to admit all qualified applicants who want to pursue high education?

Free SHS education is possible but in the long term. A better educated Ghanaian will mean a well informed Ghanaian who will make well informed choices in the interest of this nation. A better educated Ghanaian will demand good service and accountability from politicians. A better educated Ghanaian will contribute immensely to the development of this country. That is what is needed right now, to improve upon the quality of education and work progressively towards free SHS education.