A former Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang, has shot down a campaign to reintroduce the former ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system.
The Charismatic Bishops’ Conference of Ghana is calling for the re-introduction of the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system to replace the “inferior” junior high school (JHS) and senior high school (SHS) education.
In a four-point communiqué issued in line with Ghana’s 60th Independence anniversary in Accra the Charismatic Bishops’ Conference stated that Ghana had been subjected to an inferior form of education through the JHS and SHS for many years.
“We call the JHS and SHS educational system an inferior form of education because many politicians and well-to-do Ghanaians do not subject their children to the current JHS and SHS system. Instead, they take their children to schools that do ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level because they can afford to.
“If JHS and SHS was not an inferior form of education, why do they take their children out of it when they have the money to do so?”
Reacting to the call, Prof. Agyemang suggested the current educational system must be improved.
“Yes, the system we have is not perfect, no system is perfect. The ‘O’ and ‘A’ level [system] was not perfect, so we can grow what we have and make it strong. If we are talking about bringing the old system back, we have the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system that was very selective and I think we can all return to the statistics.
“How many children were in primary school then? How many got the chance to write the common entrance? How about the so many of our own children who never had the change at the ‘O’ level? We should speak for them. …If we bring a system that widens the net, and brings many more people on board, it is useful for us,” Prof. Agyemang told Accra-based Citi FM.
However, she admitted the current system is of low standard.
“Yes, the standards have fallen, we’ve said that often, but why are we not committed to work on this so we know where the specific issues are and then target our interventions?”
