Prof. Victor Yao Gadzekpo has advocated a second chance for Junior High School leavers who fail the Basic Education Certificate Examination.
This should enable such failures to better the grades to be acceptable for Senior High School education.
Prof. Victor Yao Gadzekpo, who is also the President of the Central University College, was speaking in Accra at the 6th anniversary of Heads of Private Universities in Ghana.
He noted that, the Senior High School concept is an excellent addition to Ghana’s education system but there are a few challenges that must be resolved if the masses are to have access to tertiary education.
Prof. Victor Yao Gadzekpo argued that, the performance of Junior High School pupil had declined from 62% pass in 2008 to 46% pass in 2011. He noted that out of about 375,280 students who sat for the BECE in 2011 only 176,128 passed to gain admission to the SHS.
He asked “what happens to the remaining 199,000? I can tell you with confidence that, they are all out there selling ice water” adding that “If the trend continues this way, I can tell you there is no future for this country.”
He said there is no opportunity for these 199,000 candidates who could not pass the exam and urged the Heads of Private Universities to fashion our programs to support those who could not pass the basic examination.
“We as stakeholders in education must take interest in the 200,000 students out there selling ice water” adding that “we must wake up and formulate programs to allow the re-sit the exams”.
Prof. Gadzekpo suggested that Junior High Schools should be taught by graduate teachers if the country wants s to improve the pass rate of BECE candidates.**
