Africa Education Watch, an education think tank, is calling for scrutiny of the data submitted by management of Senior High Schools regarding their capacity to admit students. This comes after a video surfaced showing students of Ghana Senior High School in Tamale sleeping in their toilet facilities due to a lack of adequate sleeping spaces.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has claimed that the school has the capacity to admit the number of students it currently has. However, Africa Education Watch believes that the situation at the school is a clear indication of the need for more thorough and transparent assessment of school capacities.
As a result, the GES has directed the head teacher of the school to step aside to allow for investigations into the situation.
In response to the situation, Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, has suggested that there may be inconsistencies in the data available to the Ministry of Education.
“It beats my mind when we see congestion of this nature when indeed we have 3,000 more vacancies in our SHSs than we need”.
“I am pleased that the GES has acted quickly and initiated an investigation into the matter. It is important that we focus on reconciling the data available at the Ministry of Education and GES in Accra with the realities on the ground. For instance, the Computerised School Placement System only assigns a student to a boarding house in GHANASCO based on the number of beds declared by the school,” said the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, highlighting the need for accurate and up-to-date information in the education sector.
According to Mr. Asare , “If we are going strictly by how admissions are done through the Computerised School Placement, it should be impossible for any student to get to the school and not have a bed. I have a feeling that there’s a significant difference between the data available at GES and the situation in the school,”
He added that the report of an assessment of the data in question should be made public to help government address the issue.
“We go to the schools to verify whether they are actually admitting the students placed by the computer. We investigate whether the schools are admitting extra boarding students or converting day admissions to boarding. By doing so, we aim to gain a better understanding of the situation and the discrepancies between the data submitted to Accra and the actual circumstances on the ground at the school,” explained the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, emphasizing the importance of accurate data and on-site investigations.
“My fear is that the report will not be made public, it will be kept as secret and stakeholders will not have the opportunity to appreciate what the real issues are and what measures the GES and the ministry will put in place to forestall future occurrences. I hope I may be put to wrong,” Executive Director of Education Think Tank, Africa Education Watch stated.
Following the circulation of a viral video showing students of Ghana Senior High School in Tamale using toilet cubicles as sleeping quarters, the Ghana Education Service has launched an investigation into the matter.
The video has sparked outrage on social media and raised serious concerns about the safety and well-being of the students.
SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh
