Ghana has done well getting more children into school through free SHS and TVET, yet the ability of these children learning cannot be vowed for and now there is a struggle in the system.
One of the various struggles Ghana faces is that, most children moving to SHS are unable to read and write.
This is no longer just a primary school problem. In a research conducted by UNICEF Ghana, the findings were that most students entering SHS and TVET could not read and write properly and SHS teachers too are trained to teach advanced subjects like English, History, Math and Science but not necessarily basic reading.
Hence, they cannot give corrective instructions and these students keep failing.
Another struggle is the insufficient fund for facility expansion, especially school buildings, social amenities for SHS and TVET institutions.
In a research conducted by EDUWATCH, GHS 3.5billion of the money from GETfund was used for the running of free SHS and 415 million was used for textbooks with infrastructural development receiving nothing.
The effect is some schools lacking electricity, computer labs and equipment to aid learning.
Though the 2026 budget promises GHS 2billion for 600 new schools, it will not cover the fixing of falling apart old school buildings.
Again, there are higher number of students for fewer spaces.
The number of students moving from JHS to SHS overwhelms facilities to accommodate them.
This year, 607,000 students qualified BECE but free SHS and TVET capacity is only 535,000. Which means that 72,000 students will not get placed and these remaining students may not get the access to further their education.
There are few teachers for too many classrooms.
Due to the recruitment freeze, 30,000 classrooms were left with no teachers.
For instance, some of the teachers teaching Early Childhood Education in Keta municipality are handling 80 children in one class which makes teaching ineffective for the children and stressing for the teachers.
To resolve these problems, governments must ensure to fix learning first before adding more subjects .
Government must ensure foundational learning is based on understanding rather than periods so that the teachers try other alternatives to get the basic education right.
National Council for Curriculum and Assessment must make the syllabus lighter with the focus on foundational learning, computational thinking and agriculture.
The NaCCA should as well ensure that every SHS and JHS do a diagnostic test when students arrive and run mandatory remedial classes and no new curriculum should start without a 12-month piloting phase and 100% textbook availability.
Government needs to fully de-cap GETfund and increase the capital for all educational purposes especially infrastructure.
This will help reduce overcrowding on our SHS, TVET and tertiary institutions and make teaching and learning effective.
For the sake of the welfare of new teachers, government needs to sign agreements with new recruits under the recruitment freeze to partly pay them and the rest later with interest.
Teachers who go to hard to reach areas must be given a 20% hardship allowance and a house through the ”Teacher Dabre” initiative.
The GES system needs to automatically update when a teacher is promoted and affect his or her salary and arrears too.
This will encourage teachers to perform their roles and duties wholeheartedly.
Also, make education accessible for everyone.
Gradually replace BECE with a better placement system and replace WASSCE with university entrance exams.
Target equity by financing for poor students and those with disabilities.
Bring good private SHS into the system through Centre for Social Policy Studies(CSPS) and also keep children, especially girls in school with subsidized specialneeds school
By DORINDA ACQUAH JAMESON
