Gov’t to review ‘basic education’ to include Senior High Schools

President Akufo-Addo’s government says it will review the concept of basic education to include Secondary Education which would cover technical, vocational and agricultural teaching.

Government says it would make the education more practical to ensure that pupils acquire the requisite skills needed to be able to establish themselves after school and not become passive and dependent citizens.

These were contained in the first budget read by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta to the House of Parliament on Thursday March 2, 2017 where he indicated that basic education should not only be a place to get a certificate. He said “as part of this initiative, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) would be used as a tool for placement of students into second cycle schools and not for certification.

“To improve the quality and relevance of education and further make the products of our school systems competitive, government would review the basic level curriculum to focus on the four R’s – Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Recreation to include Life Skills and Creative Skills.” He further indicated that “government intends to ensure that all our children have these basic skills when they exit the primary school system.”

Ghana already runs a basic education system but the current administration says it ensure that pupils and students acquire hands-on experience to be able to able to contribute to national development through the skills they would have acquired.