Monday, January 9, 2012

If
Gov't Does Not Revert To 4 Years Of SHS Before May 2012

[Issued
by the National Union of Ghana Students]

NUGS
cannot but revisit the issue of the 4 year of SHS debate. In a very
dispassionate manner, the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) demands that
Government as a matter of urgency should revert to the 4 years of Senior High
School education before May 2012. This call is NON-NEGOTIABLE, and NUGS will
not relent until the SHS duration is reversed to 4 years. NUGS will employ the
use of dialogue, negotiations and will resort to demonstrations if necessary to
see the 3 year duration abolished and the 4 year policy restored to save this
generation of SHS students from the seemingly looming road block erected before
them by the NDC government. It is distressing that all the calls from
well-meaning organisations to government to reconsider its stance on this
subject have fallen on deaf ears.


The call to reverse to 4 years of
SHS education is premised on the following:

1. SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE
NUGS
will not dwell so much on the performance aspect of the case for 4 years of SHS
because it has been voiced vociferously by almost all civil society
organisations, parents, the Catholic Bishops, social commentators, etc.
It
is undeniable that the 4 years has yielded the best ever SHS results since the
system was implemented – this assertion has been supported by even the loudest
critics of the 4 year policy. Passes in the three compulsory subjects hovered
between 30 – 40% pass for the 3 year of SHS, whereas the 4 years of SHS
produced between 70 – 80% pass. The significant thing about the case for the 4
yrs is that the system had been operational for just the first time and yet it
yielded the results we are seeing. If given time for the system to be
perfected, one can only imagine the excellent grades that will be chalked.

1. THE STATUS QUO
Three
(3) years of SHS education actually means 2 years of active studies and
preparation for exams, whereas 4 years of gives 3 years of active studies and
allowing a greater period for preparing for final exams. It is obvious the 4
years provides enough time to prepare the student for final exams as opposed to
the 3 year duration.

Again,
the statistics show that 32 – 37 % SHS students gain admission to the
university at just one try under the 3 year policy. Certainly, this statistics
is not one we should be proud of as a country. Close to 70% have to write one,
two, three more times before gaining admission into the university or other
tertiary institutions - the implicit understanding then is that students
already use 4, 5, 6 years or even more to gain admission into tertiary
institutions, however the 4 year policy reduces this figure drastically making room
for over 60% to gain admission at just one try.


1. THE INEVITABLE – ADMISSION CRISIS

In
an attempt to abolish the (4) years of SHS education, both the form 3s and 4s
have to write the 2012 May/June WASSCE concurrently to normalize the trend back
to 3 years. However in doing this, the NDC government did not anticipate the
dire consequences of such an action. Should the form 3s and 4s write
concurrently, the universities and its associated tertiary institutions will
have to admit three year groups all at once. Last year saw the tertiary
institutions in the country admitting just a fraction of the 2010/2011 year
group, meaning we will have almost three year groups competing for admissions
in 2012; plus, let us not forget that we have thousands of others who have been
trying to gain admission over the years and will still be trying.
NUGS
wishes to state unequivocally that the tertiary institutions in the country
lack the capacity to absorb all of the three year groups at a go. When closely
examined, it is a suicide mission – pure and simple.

REPURCUSSIONS OF NOT REVERTING TO
FOUR (4) YEARS
(a) Going
Back To Three Years of SHS Will Create a Generation of Frustrated Young People
The
policy is going to create frustrated people, many of whom may become traumatized
and may decide to abandon higher education altogether. It is recipe for
disaster. The consequence will be a generation of dissatisfied young people who
are likely to engage in armed robbery, drug peddling, prostitution, and other
societal menace.


In
all of this, it is we the young ones who stand to face the brunt of the policy.
The policy makers may be long dead and gone when the seed being sown today
matures for harvest. And that is why there is every incentive for the National
Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) to stand strongly and save this generation of
SHS students from this bizarre experience.

(b) Going
Back To Three Years of SHS Will Reverse the Clock of Progress
A
reversal to three (3) years of SHS education will re-wide the clock of progress
achieved under the 4 years policy. The statistics speak for themselves – they
make a compelling case for restoring the SHS duration to 4 years. Everyone is
impressed with the performance of the first group of 4 years of SHS. The
question is, why would anyone in the face of such convincing evidence still
want to reverse to the 3 year system that has clearly proven not to be viable?

CONCLUSION
We
wish to call on all civil society organisations, community based organisations,
the Trade Union Congress (TUC), parents, heads of institutions, the media and
all stakeholders to revive the debate and apply pressure on government until
the SHS system is restored to 4 years before May 2012.

This
is a call to save this generation of SHS students, whose future is being toyed with.
NUGS believes we – all of us owe the SHS students this responsibility. It is
now or never.

Finally,
we hope government will heed our call to avoid the confrontations that may
follow should our call be discarded just like all others.

Peter
Kwasi Kodjie
(NUGS President)
Tel: 0242879028

Tel:
+233 242879028
+233 209207555


Address:

P. O. Box TN 1293,
Accra, Ghana.

E-mail:
president@nugsgh.org
freekodjie@yahoo.com
freekodjie@gmail.com

Website:

http://www.nugsgh.org
http://www.peterkodjie4nugspresident.org