SEPTEMBER every year is a period of intense pressure on parents and leavers of junior high schools seeking admission to senior high schools (SHSs).
The situation has come to a head in recent times because of the high demand for secondary education in the country.
In the so-called ‘good old days’, pupils who were successful at the Common Entrance Examination only looked up for their admission letters in the post and even those who were not able to gain admission to their preferred schools received letters from other schools offering them admission once they had made the grade.
Today, the picture is different. The mad rush for admission at this time of the year sometimes compels heads of second cycle schools to go into hiding. In other instances where the heads of schools decide to stay, their offices are besieged by anxious parents seeking admission for their children. Frustrated parents and guardians have on some occasions levelled allegations of bribery and corruption against heads of schools.
To go around this problem, the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports directed that the selection process to second cycle schools be done at the regional level.
Even here, there were flaws because heads of so-called first-class schools went to such meetings with made-up list, thereby frustrating the rationale for the exercise.
Then came the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) meant to remove the manual selection of students with a cutting edge system.
The CSSPS did not stop the practice where parents besieged the offices of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the second cycle schools for admissions. Even now, parents and guardians still go to the offices of CSSPS to try and have their way.
There is a high level of interest in education in the country, judging from the rate at which educational institutions, both public and private, are being established.
The bottlenecks appear to be at the second cycle and tertiary levels, where private sector involvement is at a limited stage.
Thus, in September, the hopes of many parents to secure admission for their children get dashed when their children are unable to make it to the schools of their choice.
It is against this background that the Daily Graphic pleads with the GES to use the placement exercise for the 2008/09 academic year to build confidence in the CSSPS.
Although at its inception Ghanaians were assured that the challenges confronting the admission process to SHS would be reduced considerably, the problems still persist.
Therefore, admission time is now headache and frustration time for parents, guardians, students and even school authorities.
It is disheartening that systems that have worked elsewhere to perfection have failed in our country because of human failure and frailty.
Our aim, as a nation, should only be to get the best out of the system and also make sure that access to education is not based on any consideration other than merit.
This is where school officials should check the use of the ‘protocol list’ in which case heads of ‘first class schools’ close the door to prospective students having aggregate above a certain limit, say six and rather admit students with aggregate 12 and even beyond. This is not fair and must not be condoned.
The Daily Graphic appeals to the GES to enforce the directive to schools to admit a certain percentage of their students from their localities in order to give access to brilliant needy students who would otherwise find it difficult to pay fees to attend schools outside their locality.
Parents should also disabuse their minds of the belief that the only schools for excellence in academic pursuits is the ‘first-class schools’. Parents must encourage their children to work hard, if they expect to be accorded a place of excellence in the selection process. For greater heights can only be attained through hard work.
It is our hope that this year’s selection process will be smooth, transparent and hassle-free, particularly for parents and guardians.
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