Asantehene: Is the Separation Between JHS and SHS Working?
The Monarch of the Asante Kingdom, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has called for a relook at the country’s entire education structure for the needed reforms to drive results.
Speaking at a congregation after receiving an honorary doctorate degree at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on September 5, 2024, Otumfuo posed five legitimate questions of concern about the current state of the country’s education.
He asked, “Is the separation between the Junior and Senior High School working? What has become of the products of the Junior High School who have not been able to proceed to Senior High School? How functional has the Vocational Institutes become? How relevant have they been in the job market? and Is the system providing for the critical middle-level needs as we expected the polytechnics and Technical Universities to provide?”
He believes the reforms in the education of Ghana must be aligned across the board to reap the total benefit of education.
“We may do well to re-examine the structure of the education system from Primary to Secondary to Tertiary education…There is undoubted merit in the government argument that if we are preparing our children to compete in the global economy of today, then they should be entitled to the same level of basic education as known in other climates. Since basic education encompasses secondary or high schools, it’s only fair that we also upgrade our Basic education… It is not only in Ghana that this becomes relevant.”
Referencing a background paper prepared for international financing of global education opportunity, which notes with reference to primary school products, that the completion of primary schools is no guarantee that children have acquired basic academic skills.
Otumfuo added, “Surveys in low-income countries document that many adults who have received some schooling in five-six years or less are functionally illiterates. That’s an experience Ghana identifies with and it buttresses the case for upscaling basic education. But this cannot be that simple. It only underscores the enormity of the challenge associated with the changing dynamics of education and nation-building in our times.”
