General News of Saturday, 28 May 2022
Source: www.ghanaweb.live
2022-05-28Most Free SHS graduates performing badly in university – UG lecturer claims
Dr. Sampson Obed Appiah, a senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology of UG
Government rolled out Free SHS in 2017
Calls for a review mount
Government struggling to fund programme fully
Dr. Sampson Obed Appiah, a senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology of the University of Ghana, has revealed that Free Senior High School, 1Free SHS, graduates are performing poorly in the university.
Sharing his experience on some
Read full articleof the challenges that the policy faces and the need for review and broad stakeholder consultation, he described the output of the students in exams as “bad.”
“The Free SHS batch that came into the university, if I tell you the things they write for us in exams, you will cry for this country. It is bad. About 80% of them are not good,” he said on the Dwaboase show on TV XYZ earlier this week.
On the subject of the policy in and of itself, he stressed that it was time for government to listen to contrary view on implementation.
“It is only when the policy implementers of today accept that what they are doing, they should listen to others. Let me give you an example, do you know that the Minister asked Grade A schools to admit students from poor backgrounds?”
He said students with aggregate 47 are currently offering science in some schools because of te policy, quizzing: “So how can someone with 47 be changed by a school in three years into a very good student?”
He stressed that government should focus on providing for those low-grade schools, most of the schools don’t have classrooms, no teaching material, teacher motivation is poor.
“That is why we all need to come together as Prof Addae-Mensah and Palmer Buckle have spoken, anybody who says anything that is against what the government says is labeled as ignorant,” he lamented.
The Free SHS policy has in recent times attracted calls for review. It is one of the main policies of the government of Ghana, which started in September 2017.
“Every child in Ghana who qualifies for, and is placed in a public Senior High School for his secondary education will have his/her fees absorbed by the government,” the Free SHS secretariat said on its website.
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