Access and WASSCE improvement must positively impact the tertiary transition to avoid creating a pool of second-cycle unemployed graduates -Kofi Asare

Mr. Kofi Asare, CEO of Eduwatch said access and WASSCE improvement must positively impact tertiary transition in order not to create a pool of second-cycle unemployed graduates.

Many Ghanaians are waiting to know the factors behind the improvement in the WASSCE performance because nothing seems to be evident as a factor(s) they can yield the high-performance chalked is the 2023 WASSCE. Nothing seems to be new, the old structures are in place, and students are “free to operate under their own will with less guidance due to government’s carved policies” that many see as ruining what Ghana’s education system produced in the past.

Mr. Asare has been fighting for the best to come out of the Ghanaian educational system for years now however, it seems only parts of his suggestions have been fruitful for now.

He said, “Financing is a major challenge here for needy students”. Additionally, he talked about the Student Loan Scheme (SLS) and how they should support prospective needy students.

The submission of Mr. Kofi Asare

FREE SHS, WASSCE RESULTS AND TERTIARY TRANSITION

The Free SHS policy has between 2017 and 2023 increased SHS enrolment from 880k to about 1.3 ml; almost 50%.

WASSCE results have improved, with at least 50% passes (A1-C6) recorded in all four core subjects-unprecedented!

Access and WASSCE improvement must positively impact tertiary transition in order not to create a pool of second-cycle unemployed graduates.

Let’s see how the tertiary transition picture has played out so far:

The last batch of the non-free SHS students wrote WASSCE in 2019 with 340k candidates, of which 142k (42%) entered tertiary in 2019/20.

The first batch of free SHS graduates completed WASSCE in 2020 with 375k candidates, of which 163k (43%) entered tertiary in 2021.

The second batch of free SHS graduates completed WASSCE in 2021 with 446k candidates, of which 164k (36%) entered tertiary in 2021/22.

The 2022 data suggests that some 280k SHS graduates could not proceed to tertiary that year; and that, while over 50% passed the core subjects, less than 40% made it to tertiary.

Financing is a major challenge here for needy students!

Every year, many students from the two lowest income quintiles with household income below GHC 15k a year fail to honour tertiary admissions.

By next week, social media will be flooded as usual with needy candidates who have been offered admission without cash.

The Students Loan Scheme (SLS) should have provided support to prospective needy students who have been offered admission, by paying their admission and user fees to enable them to become students.

Unfortunately, the SLS is non-responsive to the real financial needs of tertiary candidates and students.

The average student loan of GHC 2,000/year can only finance the cost of tertiary education for two months-It costs about GHC 15k a year to study at tertiary.

The SLS is always in arrears dating into the past academic year. In 2023, over 30% of applicants, many of whom are poor could not have access due to inadequate funding. This is despite a guarantor-free SL policy introduced a year ago.

The SLS relies heavily on loan repayments, which stands at about 65%. Other sources of financing are GETFund and the Communications Service Tax; albeit irregular and paltry.

It is predicted that when the first batch of guarantor-free students graduate, and thereafter, repayments will gradually decline because of the unemployment situation viz an era of no SSNIT guarantors.

Under the guarantor-free policy, the loanee virtually does not start repaying the loan until they start working.

We must improve on secondary to tertiary transition. It is one of the targets we are set to miss if nothing radical happens to catalyze Gross Tertiary Enrolment from the current 18% to the target of 40% by 2030.

However, we cannot improve secondary-tertiary transition as a value addition to free SHS if the posture and financing mechanisms of the SLS is not recalibrated.

The SLS must be re-positioned to first support needy prospective tertiary students to become tertiary students; Pay economically responsive amounts as loans, disburse at the beginning and not after the academic year.

A country that sits on gold, oil, bauxite, manganese, diamond, and lithium, cannot be financing needy tertiary students through social media.

Let’s build responsive tertiary student bursaries and scholarship systems.

I have been saying this at the highest level since 2019. I won’t stop until something changes.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh