Anyway, Awudome Senior High School (AWUSCO) should count herself lucky. At least, their six unit classroom block was handed over to them in September 2010. The project formed part of government\u2019s infrastructure improvement programme in preparedness for the four years system.
\nI was excited for two reasons when I heard that AWUSCO\u2019s six unit classroom block was handed over to the school\u2019s administrators. One, the image of my former school is lifted high and two, admission of first year students into the school will be hustle free considering the probable problems of the four years system. As a matter of luck, National Service Scheme posted me to Awudome SHS to serve
\nmother Ghana. Thanks to the 40th anniversary planning committee (celebrated in 2003), the general outlook of the school befits the grade \u201cA\u201d status conferred on it by the Ghana Education Service. I\u2019m highly impressed with the transformation the school underwent in the last ten years.
\nHowever, AWUSCO still has problems; problems created by our policy makers. When will politicians do us (ordinary Ghanaian) any good? Upon my arrival in the school, I discovered that there are more problems associated with the four years SHS policy than classrooms. Who created these problems? Was it former president J.A. Kufour\u2019s led administration or it is the Prof\u2019s led administration? I\u2019m not
\nand do not intend to play any blame game. I\u2019m only looking at the problem from its genesis. After all, Ola Rotimi says when trees fall on trees, the top-most one must be removed first.
\nA PTA building which uses to house a canteen, a stationary shop, a guardian and counseling office and a food and nutrition laboratory in the 1990s is now being used as dormitory for boys. Why? It\u2019s the demand of the four years system. Despite this improvise dormitory, students still sleep on corridors in the night. If students in a grade \u201cA\u201d school can\u2019t find place to sleep, then I\u2019m sincerely sorry for those who find themselves in the lower grade schools. My God be their shepherd.
\nDinning session in AWUSCO now comes in two segments. The dinning hall has a maximum seating capacity of eight hundred. It now caters for over one thousand and five hundred boarding students. Wait a minute! Is this what is happening in other schools too as a result of the four years system? And so what you asked?
\nThere is nothing more important than time in an academic institution. The amount of time wasted during dinning is my concern. If you care to know, at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) lectures go on even when an SRC week event meant for students is ongoing. That is how time conscious GIJ lecturers can be! I think you can help me find answers to the following questions, since I\u2019m not able to answer them myself. Did our policy makers anticipate these problems?
\nWhat measures did they put in place to solve them? None? What do they take Ghanaians for? For how long will they continue to play \u201cjasikele\u201d with our educational system?
\nGhana needs quality education for rapid development and Ghanaians need quality education to be able to take up leadership positions around the globe. Don\u2019t we want the likes of Kofi Annan, Ambassador Gbehor and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah anymore? Did governments at their time toyed with the educational system like what is happening today? This whole \u201cnonsense\u201d must stop. Initially, I thought the Conference of Heads of Assisted Schools was making too much \u201cnoise\u201d over this four years SHS system. After all, the standard of education is falling and if measures are being put in place to improve it, why don\u2019t we support it. But I now understand why CHASS was making the \u201cnoise\u201d.
\nIn fact, no father or mother wants to see his or her children sleep outside, expose to the dangers of the night. Neither do they want to see them stand while eating or learning. Talking about the falling standards of education and improving it; what was the recommendation of the educational reform commission whose report former president Kufour implemented? Was it to increase the number of years of the then
\nSenior Secondary School to four years or to maintain the three years and improve upon facilities and conditions of service for teachers? Anyway, this is a discussion for another platform.
\nNow, when those who were admitted to first year finally settled for teaching to start, I realised that they were no desks for their use. How can this be? Classrooms without desks? How do they expect the students to learn? These were some of the questions that ran through my mind. Until the arrival of these first year students, they were enough desks. How can a policy that grows a school\u2019s population be implemented without improving infrastructure and providing facilities that will accommodate the students and also facilitate teaching and learning? This must not happen again.
\nWe need educated Ghanaians to drive the country\u2019s work force. Let policy markers not toy with the country\u2019s educational system. Whether good or bad, Professor Mill\u2019s administration is gone back to the three years system. Successive governments must respect this decision in the interest of mother Ghana.
\nSource: Edwin S. K. Koge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anyway, Awudome Senior High School (AWUSCO) should count herself lucky. At least, their six unit classroom block was handed over to them in September 2010. The project formed part of government\u2019s infrastructure improvement programme in preparedness for the four years system. I was excited for two reasons when I heard that AWUSCO\u2019s six unit classroom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n