A renowned Educationist, Saeed Adam Banda (PhD), has cited challenges with the free senior high school double track system, including inadequate infrastructure, overcrowding , food shortages, pressure on teachers, insufficient logistics, and sidelining of quality private senior high schools.
As an expert in education, Mr. Saeed’s assessment and analysis, found that there has been a reduction in quality of education in SHSs in the country due to the implementation of the Free Senior High School policy.
The double track system was implemented due to the high number of students.
According to Mr. Saeed, the system has caused a negative impact due to fewer contact hours, increased teacher workload, and a lack of proper stakeholder consultation before the implementation of the free SHS, and learning gaps for students during off-track periods.
He emphasized that before the double track system can be eliminated, there should be expansion in infrastructure, a robust I.T. infrastructure, and inclusion of private SHSs.
He added that there should be burden sharing in the education system for smoother running to abate the burden solely on the government. “I opine that parents should pay a little for boarding and feeding for their wards to reduce the burden on the government”, Mr. Saeed, said.
“The double track system has generated a negative impact on our students, I can tell you factually that the single track system we used to have before the implementation of the FSHS policy was far better”, Mr. Saeed noted.
He urged policy makers to consider consultations and analyze situations about the policies before implementing them.
He concluded that allowing partisan political interests to dictate educational policies has hindered the progress of the education sector, and therefore, education should be insulated from partisan politics.
Also, concerning examination malpractices, Mr. Saeed expressed concern about the cancellation of BECE or WASSCE results in recent times, stating that the formality of writing exams has been in place for a decade and therefore needs to be reviewed.
He said the formality of writing exams resulted in exams malpractices causing disservice to students.
“Our trend analysis revealed that exam malpractices keep increasing, and the educational bodies need to sit up”, Mr. Saeed emphasized.
“The fact that our BECE and WASSCE formats have remained unchanged for years is detrimental to our education system”, he lamented.
He urged that there should be a reform to use digital forms of monitoring examinations by installing cameras or using drones to monitor students when writing exams.
