Wa (Upper West) 21 April
Senior Secondary Schools in the Upper West Region are relying on Advanced Level Certificate holders to teach Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry due to shortage of qualified science teachers. This has led to a reduction in the number of students offering the sciences as most students shift to general arts and business programmes.
Mr Joseph Puobi, Headmaster of the Wa Secondary School (WASEC) said on Tuesday that WASEC has been engaging Advanced Level Certificate holders for the past eight years although they are not supposed to teach in second cycle schools. Mr Puobi, who is the Regional Chairman of Conference of Heads of Assisted Schools (CHASS), was responding to the concerns of the Wa District Assembly members over the admission of students and science teachers in the school on Monday.
"Admission to WASEC are clean and open with over 60 per cent of those on admission coming from the district", he said. He asked the assembly members to advise their people on the proper choice of subjects and schools in order not to face admission problems. "No Headmaster can play tricks with admissions under the educational reform programme".
The Headmaster said indiscipline is a major problem in the school citing occasions when he had to appear before the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for expelling students for poor academic performance. "This is an example of the type of indiscipline WASEC staff have to tolerate".
He said Teachers are, therefore, becoming reluctant to enforce discipline in the school for fear of incurring the wrath of parents.
