The Education Ministry is putting measures in place to seek for approval from Parliament to expand the Second Cycle Institution or Senior High Schools (SHS) from three to six years.
This will be done by amending the Pre-Tertiary Education Act which stipulates that Junior High School forms part of Basic Education in Ghana.
Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum who announced this at the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools, CHASS, indicated that the expansion will ensure that students are well equipped and prepared for the Second Cycle Institutions across the country.
Dr Adutwum explained that the High School concept experienced in the country recently was borrowed from the westerners who had well-furnished science laboratories and libraries which is not the case in Ghana.
Hence, it is important for pragmatic steps to be taken in reforming basic education to help create a competitive educational system across the globe.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong indicated that the government in its bid to address the challenges of the second cycle institutions awarded several GETFund projects for the expansion of dormitories and classrooms in most schools and the clearance of recruitment of teachers among others.
He is therefore hopeful that other stakeholders will join the government in ensuring that the Sustainable Development Goal, four in making education sustainable in the country is achieved.
The Vice Chancellor of Koforidua Technical University, Professor David Kofi Essumang who was delivered the keynote address at the programme observed that even though basic education has been made free, not all communities in the country have access to well-furnished educational facilities.
Second cycle institution according to him provides a comprehensive education for students with the principal objective of strengthening skills and knowledge acquired at the basic level.
The conference was themed “60 years of shaping second cycle education in Ghana, the challenges and successes in the contemporary time-the role of stakeholders”.
The occasion was also used to present citations to some past executives who have contributed immensely towards the success of CHASS.
BY Daniel Bampoe