Entrance exam to replace BECE when Free SHS bill is passed – MoE
Entrance examination will replace the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) taken by final-year Junior High School students when Parliament passes the Free Senior High School Bill, Minister of Education, Dr Adutwum has said.
In a discussion on GTV’s Breakfast show, the Education Minister emphasized that, in the 21st century, completing Senior High School is crucial, and that is where certificate exams will be taken, not at the Junior High level.
Dr Adutwum said Junior High Schools (JHSs) under the Free Second Cycle school bill will be classified as lower secondary and will no longer be part of basic schools, thus giving the country a six-year secondary education system.
Citing that lower secondary schools can operate separately but will offer equal opportunities for learning as Senior High Schools, the Minister stated that making secondary education compulsory eliminates the need for the BECE as a certificate examination.
In a related development, the Minister of Education says the Cabinet has approved a proposal to enact a law to make secondary education under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme free and compulsory.
Speaking at the “State of Education in Ghana” address, the Education Minister said the law will also provide legal backing for the sustainment of the flagship Free Senior High School policy introduced in September 2017.
“When you hear of us talking about free compulsory universal secondary education and the enactment of an act to guide and protect free secondary education, we are talking about ensuring that no child has a choice to say, ‘I will not go to secondary school
Cabinet has approved the proposal to enact the law that will ensure free and compulsory universal secondary education,” the Minister in Charge of Education told Ghanaians at the State of the Education address.
Describing the Free SHS programme as a transformative initiative, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum indicated that approximately 1.4 million students have had their secondary education free of charge since the introduction of the government policy.
“Before the introduction of free secondary school education, a little over eight hundred thousand students were enrolled in senior high schools, today, it is 1.4 million plus. This is a great accomplishment,” the Education Minister noted.
