SHS education in Northern Ghana close to collapse - NGO

Europa

October 26, 2016 6:35 AM

The NGO also argued that the academic calendar had been so badly affected due to a three-year period of education which is not making teaching and learning effective.

A non-governmental organisation, the Community Development Alliance (CDA), has described as worrying the consistent delay in the release of feeding grants by successive governments to cover the feeding expenses of SHS students in the Northern, Upper East and the Upper West Regions.

Speaking at a press conference in Wa, Mr Issifu Salifu Kanton, the Executive Director of the CDA said Senior High School (SHS) education in Northern Ghana, if not given the needed attention, will reach a crisis level.

He said “it was regrettable to note that since 1992 till date, payment of feeding grants to SHSs in the three regions has remained a challenge and posed one of the biggest threats to the delivery of quality education to the people from the affected regions”.“As we speak, government has not released funds for the feeding of SHS students for the second and third terms of the 2015/16 academic year as well as the first term of the 2016/17 academic year periods”, he said.

Mr Kanton said the situation has forced management of these schools to delay the admission of first year students as well as the re-opening of schools for the continuing students.

The CDA has therefore given government two weeks to release all outstanding claims of feeding fees and subsidies to all beneficiary schools.

Mr Kanton also noted that the progressive free scholarship scheme for the second and third terms of the 2015/16 academic year should be paid immediately to all beneficiary schools.

“We certainly have seen massive infrastructure improvement across board in SHS. This in no doubt has increased access but the neglect of the soft issues has also negatively affected quality of education service delivery across the three regions,” Mr Kanton said.

The NGO also argued that the academic calendar had been so badly affected due to a three-year period of education which has been reduced to practically two years, making it difficult for effective teaching and learning.

Mr Kanton believes that students should have at least three years of instructional period as envisaged by the policy blue print on SHS education.

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