SHS Duration

A national educational forum is expected to be held later this month to review the duration of the senior high school (SHS).
To that end, a 12-member committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Education to spearhead the forum, which is scheduled for May 27 and 28, 2009.
The committee is under the chairmanship of Dr Stephen Ayidiya of the University of Ghana. Other members are Prof P. N. Boatsi, Mr Kosi Kedem, Dr William Ahadzie and Dr Dominic Pealore.
The rest are Rev E. K. Dadebo, Alhaji Salifu Seidu, Ms Bernice Adu, Mrs Mary Quaye, Mr Asolla Solomon, Mr Emmanuel Acquaye and Ms Benedicta Naana Biney.
At a media briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, said the forum would also provide a historical perspective on both the national educational forum of 1999 and the Presidential Education Reform Review Committee’s Report of 2002.
He said the forum was in line with the government’s pledge to ensure affordable and quality education for all Ghanaians, as indicated in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto.
He said the forum would also put to rest the debate on the introduction of the four-year SHS system and afford the public the opportunity to make their input into the educational policy of the country.
The minister later told the Daily Graphic that the underlying issue about the duration of the SHS had to do with building a quality educational system based on continuity.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said students who had begun the four-year system or would be admitted to SHSs would be made to complete their programmes.
A member of the committee and member of the 2002 presidential education reform review committee, Mr Emmanuel Acquaye, said the discussion would be made public to give Ghanaians the opportunity to understand the issues which went into the formulation of the policy to introduce the three-year or four-year programme.