Professor of Geography at the University of Ghana Legon, Professor Martin Oteng Ababio, has expressed worry over the Free Senior High School (SHS) education policy, highlighting its negative impact on the quality of education Ghana.
According to Professor Ababio, the manner in which the policy was implemented by the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has worsened the challenges facing the education sector.
He opined that, although the enrollment into various senior high schools has seen an exponential increase since the inception of the Free SHS policy, there is also a relative increase into the Universities but the government has failed to expand infrastructure in the various public universities.
Speaking to the media during a campaign outreach by lecturers to promote awareness of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 manifesto, Prof. Ababio noted that the strain on university facilities has become more evident since the introduction of the Free SHS policy.
He emphasised the need to have thorough scrutiny of the policy in order to increase the quality of education in Ghana adding that the lack of adequate infrastructure has hindered the quality of tertiary education despite the increase in the number of enrolment into tertiary institutions.
Prof. Ababio commended the flagbearer of the national democratic Congress, John Dramani mahama for his decision to review the Free SHS policy, as outlined in their manifesto.
According to him, thorough review would address the gaps in the current system and improve the overall quality of education in Ghana.
“The free SHS has helped. But it has spelt the doom of the whole educational system. The number of students that are getting into the university has increased tremendously. Lecturers have not increased. The lecture halls have not increased. The residential halls have not increased," Professor Ababio said.
“So we are compromising, and I am a lecturer, we are compromising quality for quantity. In a sense today, if you come to Legon, you enter a lecture hall to find 600, 800 students in one room."
“That makes it very difficult to reach out to each and every one. How many essays can you mark a day? And how many essays can you give to a student?”
Source: Kobina Darlington/peacefmonline.com
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