SHS admission cut-offs backward 20th century policies – EduWatch

Describing Senior High School (SHS) admission cut-offs as medieval and discriminatory, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare says he is against the admission cut-offs in secondary schools.

In a social media post sighted by Pretertiary.com, he stated it’s untrue that a top-performing Junior High School student is academically better or has a higher IQ than a student from a low-performing Junior High School (JHS).

“There is no scientific proof that one with aggregate 6 from Presec Primary where over 10 teachers teach in JHS is academically better or has a higher IQ than one with aggregate 36 from Mafi Dugame where one teacher taught the entire JHS in 2021.

Even if so proven, every child must have access to basic and secondary education with relevant learning outcomes before entering the world of work.

During my first visit to Brazil in 2010 to study school-free secondary education models, I discovered the least qualified taxi driver was a secondary school graduate.

Their approach to business, given the quality of secondary education served in that country, would likely to be better than a primary school graduate’s productivity.

Today, Ghana has one of the most youthful populations in the world with about 60% aged below 25. It is important to make the minimum human capital standards for all, the equivalent of a secondary education.

To achieve this, our basic education system must strengthen career guidance to identify non-academic interests, potentials, and nurture and direct students into those pathways.

The guidance system must be deliberate in facilitating the direction of at least 20% of primary students to skills and creative arts pathways by JHS, and nurture till the second cycle- Creative Arts School, TVET, Agric Colleges etc.

The former Minister of Education introduced Creative Arts Schools, which is commendable. More non-academic pathways are required to nurture non-academic talents, including sports academies.

Teachers and parents must have conversations on potential careers in view of pupil performances in school. These must manifest in teacher KPIs.

Not allowing aggregate 40-50 students to enter secondary school is never a solution but the opposite. The most important thing is, learning must take place in secondary schools.

At the end of the day, the student you abandon for holding Agg 45 may be the one to build your house for you. The quality and skill he exhibits, among others, may depend on the education you served or denied him,” he stated.

The African Education Watch (EduWatch) Director in his social media post concluded that “Remember; education is a public good. One’s consumption must not affect the other’s enjoyment.”

Admission cut-off in second-cycle schools over the years has been debatable with some proposing for the central government to introduce it for students who sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) government earlier introduced the cut-off point for the BECE which was aggregate 25 to contain enrollment in Senior High Schools but it later was removed by the Nana Akufo-Addo administration.

A New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament and former Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum indicated that the phase-out of the admission cut-off was to ensure all students who sit the Basic Education Certificate Examination gain admission into Senior High School irrespective of their grade or aggregate.

Speaking in an interview Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum said “There was never a qualification other than what was called cut-off, and the cut-off was based on space availability, but for now, there is no pass mark.”

In his submission, he explained that the cut-off point did not mean a basic school graduate has failed the exams but rather it was about the insufficient space in the nearly 721 public senior high schools in the country.

“The aggregate 25 cut-off point situation wasn’t so much about you have failed the examination, it was about there is no space for you,” the former Minister of Education told Kumasi-based Pure FM in the interview.