GNACOPS to petition Parliament over % TVET/SHS placement slot

The Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) is currently conducting a study on the negative impact of the 30% Senior High School (SHS) placement slot allotted for students from public Junior High Schools in the country.

In a statement shared with AcademicWeek, the Private Council said the outcome of the study will be presented to Parliament for a decision on the discrimination computer school placement policy against private school students.

“The data we collect will be used to support our efforts in advocating for a fair and equitable education policy that benefits all schools, regardless of whether they are public or private school students,” the Council said in the release.

In a related development, the Director of GNACOPS has said the Ministry of Education is conducting research to review the 30% Senior High School placement policy which merits public Junior High School students to be placed into ‘Category A’ second-cycle schools.

Speaking in an interview monitored by AcademicWeek, the Private Schools Council Director, Mr Gyetuah said the 30% allotment of placement into ‘Category A’ schools for public Junior High School students approach is a laze fair policy.

“The Minister for Education meet us last Monday and he said after research into the computer school placement of BECE graduates, he will see how best the review of the 30% quota policy will be done,” the GNACOPS Director said.

Citing discrimination against private BECE graduates, the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) Executive Director has called for a total scrap of the 30% Category A school placement policy rather than the review.

“We dont agree to the review of the policy, it is not about a review is about a total scrap of the 30% quota school placement policy because it is undermining quality education in the country,” Obengfo Kwasi Gyetuah stressed.

Meanwhile, the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has called on the Ministry of Education to stop the grading of Senior High Schools into categories thus (A, B, C and D) to avoid some school placement challenges.

In an interview monitored by AcademicWeek, the general secretary of GNAT, Thomas Musah said the arrangement of second-cycle schools into various categories based on their academic performance is not doing any good.

The teacher union secretary said the classification creates the impression that public Senior High Schools not in Category A and B are not good enough, a situation he said is a severe challenge that must be considered.

“If you classify one school as A, another as B and another as C, it creates the impression that the C schools are not good, and I think we must do away with the grades A, B, C and D (categorization),” Mr Thomas Musah said.