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Four year SHS will be adverse to female students
-Minister
Audrey Micah, Ghanadot
Accra, May 28, Ghanadot - Stakeholders
in the nation’s education system are
divided on whether the current three year duration for the
Senior High School should be maintained or be increased to four
years.
While some educational administrators are of the view that the
proposed four year duration will give instructors enough time to
conclude their required syllabus others contend that emphasis
should be placed on the quality of the country’s educational
process rather than its duration.
The next to add her voice to the raging debate is the Minister
of Women and Children’s Affairs, Akua Sena Dansua. According to
her, the four year system if not changed will make female
students find it hard to marry.
She believed that adopting the four year system will only extend
the problem of girls, adding that the longer girls stay in
school, the more difficult it becomes for them to attract
husbands, thereby making them objects of public ridicule.
“This has an effect on the girls. Most of our girls before they
reach the university are about 19 or 20, if they are
unfortunate; by the time you graduate… you see that the men are
running away from you.”
The minister said that if the right structures are put in place,
two years should be enough for the SHS system.
“If we provide all that the teachers and the students need, the
books, the science labs, you know, motivation for teachers, it
can only take two years. Four years is only extending the
problems.”
Interviews conducted by Ghanadot,
indicated that while some students prefer the three year system,
others are still glued to the four year term.
A student from the Tema Senior High School said
she has no problem with the four years, but only that it is her
parents who will suffer for the extra cost.
She lamented that their first year in school was not used
profitably, thus should they go back to the three year system
they may not be fit and equally ready to write the final exams.
When asked whether the four year system will prevent her from
getting married, she said “I don’t believe that will happen to
me because life is all about planning and when you plan well
getting married will be easy.”
Another from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Tema said the four
years is better because that will give students the opportunity
to learn more and be more prepared for
their finals.
To her, “getting married is entirely different from writing an
exams, so I don’t really agree with the minister, because there
are people who are older and are in school, but are not yet
married”.
Some too seems not to be bothered with what is happening around
them as they believe with a little motivation they should be
able to learn and write
exams better.
Ghanadot
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