Academic year for SSS to change
Academic year for SSS to change
Accra(Greater Accra) 21 June 2000
The academic year for senior secondary schools (SSS) is expected to be re-scheduled for September to June by 2003, instead of the current January-December calendar, Mr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, told Parliament on Tuesday.
Answering questions in the House, he explained that under the two-and-a-half year plan of the SSS cycle, the period of synchronisation would last from June 2001 to June 2003, by which time the three transitional batches of students would have completed their courses and written their final examinations.
He said three transitional batches of SSS students would complete the synchronisation between June 2001 and June 2003, adding: "thereafter, the SSS academic year would normalise to September-June, instead of January-December".
Mr. Solomon Akwetey, NDC-Suhum, had asked the minister what plans the sector had initiated to ensure a smooth change of the SSS year.
The minister assured the House that class movement from JSS to SSS would be smooth without any hold-ups or backlogs during or after the transition.
He informed the House that, in view of arguments raised in favour of a three-and-a-half year programme of transition, the ministry and the Ghana Education Service were undertaking a cost-benefit analysis of the two options.
Giving the background to the issue, Mr. Spio-Garbrah said until 1990, the academic year for SSS was September-June, but when the first batch of JSS graduates passed out, certain conditions made it impossible for them to enter SSS in September, the same year.
Paramount among these was that for the first time, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) had to cope with more than 100,000 candidates at a single sitting, using its old, existing facilities.
Moreover, he said, human error and irregularities in the filling of the entry cards and other documents the schools submitted contributed in no small measure to the delay in releasing that year's examination results.
Consequently, the ministry was faced with two options of either making the affected candidates stay at home for one academic year before gaining admission into the SSS in September-June academic year or allowing them to begin their first term in January 1991.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah said the second option was found more feasible, and from 1991 to date, the senior secondary schools run the January-December academic year while all other levels of education run the old September-June calendar.
Explaining why it is necessary to revert to the original September-June academic year, Mr. Spio-Garbrah said a common academic year for all levels of education would facilitate transition from one stage of education to the other, all in the same year.
The reversion would also enable the co-ordination meeting and marking of scripts of WAEC to be held during the long vacation period to avoid any disruption of classes.
The minister said the reversion was necessary for the country's participation in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.
He said Ghana and other West African countries had agreed to internationalise the SSS programme and write a joint examination, the first of which took place in May-June, 1998.
He explained that the country can take part in the joint examination only when the SSS academic calendar ends in June instead of December.
Mr. Spio-Garbrah told the House that the ministry has not taken any decision yet on uniforms worn by both jss students and primary schoolchildren.
He said, however, that if any concrete proposal on the issue should come up for consideration, the ministry would duly sensitise parents and the general public on it before the sector takes a final decision for implementation.
The minister had been asked whether the sector would consider changing the school uniform for JSS students from that of primary schoolchildren to give the former a characteristic identity.
On steps the Ministry is taking to stem indiscipline among SSS examination candidates, Mr. Spio-Garbrah shared the concern expressed by the questioner.
He noted that misconduct among such students is an unfortunate development on the school campuses and said "every effort is being made by our school authorities, in collaboration with the Boards of Governors and Parent-Teacher Associations, to arrest the trend by applying disciplinary measures such as outright dismissal or suspension.
In answer to another question, Mr. Spio-Garbrah explained that, by law, district assemblies are expected to build, equip and maintain schools at the basic level.
He said the ministry, on behalf of the government, comes in only to supplement the efforts of the assemblies.
Mr. Edward Osei-Kwaku, NPP-Asokwa West, wanted to know how many JSS are in the country and how many of them have workshops and library facilities.
The minister informed the House that there are 6,606 JSS in the country, out of which 5,876 are public and 730 private, adding that 603 public Junior Secondary Schools have libraries although most of them do not have structures or rooms specifically designated as libraries.
With regard to workshops, Mr. Spio-Garbrah said in a survey conducted in 1998 in 38 districts in eight regions, 287 out of 1,232 JSS in those regions had completed workshops, representing a 23.3 per cent of the number of JSS sampled.
He conceded that the situation is not satisfactory but explained that it is the determination of the ministry to attain a 100 per cent coverage in the provision of workshops for junior secondary schools in the country.
He mentioned the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund Bill, which, if passed by Parliament and the Fund established, would make adequate funds available to provide workshops, among other educational infrastructure, as well as teaching and learning materials.
Later, the Speaker, Mr. Justice Daniel Francis Annan, ordered the suspension of a debate on a motion asking the House to adopt a report for the approval of a five million-dollar World Bank loan for Community-Based Poverty Reduction Projects.
The suspension followed a request by Commodore Steve Obimpeh, Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, who had earlier moved the motion, that the debate be discontinued to allow the relevant ministers to be invited to the House to brief Members on how they intend to address the concerns raised by the contributors.
When the debate opened, Members who contributed raised, among other concerns, the issue of effective utilisation of the loan to benefit the intended beneficiaries.
GRi…/