Teachers Rejoice Over 3-year SHS Duration

A cross-section of students and teachers in the Upper East Region has expressed their happiness over the decision by the government to reverse the four year Senior High School (SHS) duration to three. Both students and teachers at the Bolgatanga SHS told this correspondent that the idea of four years was only going to put a lot of strain on students and parents, as well as school authorities, as there was no adequate infrastructure in their schools. While the students were particular about learning materials and dormitories, the teachers were also concerned about staff accommodation, inadequate classrooms, and low motivation. The teachers and students regretted that when the four-year duration was introduced, it did not take into account the infrastructure base of their schools, thus making it extremely difficult for teaching and learning. They argued that it was not how long students stayed in school, but the quality of teaching and learning that would take place. This, they contended, the previous government failed to address, before introducing the four-year system. The Headmaster of the Bolgatanga SHS, Mr. Dedacus Afeghera, who said the Council of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) was in favour of the four-year duration, expressed mixed feelings about the change. In one breathe, he said the four-year duration would have given students ample time to prepare for their final examinations, and in another, the Headmaster said the system would have also put a lot of pressure on the less-endowed schools like his, which lack spacious examination halls and classrooms, staff accommodation and students� dormitories. Some students also contended that the three-year system was the best, because it was more �economical� for their parents to provide them with the needed learning materials, and also pay their schools promptly. They were also of the view that since successive governments failed to pay their feeding grants promptly, which had brought about a lot of agitations from student bodies and pressure group across the three regions in the North, the three-year system would avert the trend, since they would only stay in school for three, instead of four years. A retired educationist in Bolgatanga, Mr. Robert Adjene, in an earlier interview, questioned why the three-year system was changed to four, when people had made it to the tertiary levels with the three years. He was optimistic that when adequate facilities were made available with well equipped libraries in the second cycle institutions, students could still make it with the three years. A tutor at the Bawku Technical Institute, Mr. Magnus Aloah, was also of the opinion that if the government made logistics available, and teachers were also committed to their duties, the three-year system was the best. He stressed that much of the commitment should come from teachers, by way of spending quality time with their students.