Education Minister asked to resign over move to close some SHSs

Former President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama has called on the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum to resign over his decision to close non-performing Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the country.

Speaking at a constituency meeting, he said the Ministry of Education under the auspices of the government must put in place strategic educational plans to ensure students in academically poor schools achieve better WASSCE results.

Among other measures to avoid the closure of non-performing Senior High Schools, the former President suggested for qualified teachers be posted in such schools adding that adequate infrastructure will also improve outcomes.

Mahama’s call comes after the Education Minister said his outfit may be forced to close some government schools over their poor academic performance and redistribute the affected students to academically good nearby schools.

At the meeting with the CHASS and Principals of Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET Institutions, the Minister said intervention programs should be put together for schools with a consistent zero to ten per cent pass rate.

The intervention he said will ensure that the majority of students find opportunities for further studies adding that closing the schools down would help save the nation the huge financial losses being incurred by the government.

Dr Yaw Adutwum indicated that non-performing schools would be closed down and affected students would be redistributed to nearby schools for them to continue their education and become relevant to the nation.

In a related story, Africa Education Watch has urged the Ministry in charge of Education (MoE) to rescind its move to shut down non-performing Senior High Schools (SHSs) and focus on improving education at the basic level.

Kofi Asare, the Director of the EduWatch who made the suggestion on behalf of his outfit in a post sighted by AcademicWeek said Senior High Schools can perform academically well if quality education is offered at the basic level.

Commenting on the 0% pass rate in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Africa Education Watch official said that is amid the poor aggregate obtained by BECE candidates admitted into second-cycle schools.

“When Senior High School attract an aggregate of 40-54 students, why blame Heads for 0% WASSCE pass & close down? The solution is quality improvement at the basic education level. Focus on Basic to improve secondary,” he said.