OVERHAUL COMPUTERISED PLACEMENT SYSTEM (OCT 14)

ADMISSION period of pupils and students is always a headache for parents. Seeking admission for a child from one phase of the educational cycle to another is a pain in the neck.
Presently, parents whose children wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and are seeking admission to senior high schools (SHSs) are facing a lot of difficulties. They are worried because their children have not been placed in SHSs yet, and even if they have, they are not sure which class of school their children will gain admission to.
In September 2005, a new system of selection into SHSs, known as the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), was introduced to replace the manual system. And as part of the process, BECE candidates have to complete specially designed selection cards and scannable forms for processing by a computer software developed for the exercise.
The CSSPS was introduced because the manual system of selection and placement was, for many years, a source of stress and frustration to parents and it was the expectation that the new system would minimise or address those concerns.
Unfortunately, the new system has not addressed the admission blues. The system takes into account scores of students without due regard for their prevailing circumstances and their schools.
For a long time, students in rural areas have found it difficult to compete with their counterparts in the urban centres because the rural schools lack the human and material resources necessary for their pupils to make the required grades. The problem has been aggravated by the lack of supervision of teachers by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
The DAILY GRAPHIC agrees with parents whose children have not yet been placed in SHSs that the new placement system must be overhauled. Perhaps the model school concept introduced by the government could offer some solutions. The plan for the construction of model schools in each district is behind schedule and it will be in the interest of all if action is expedited on the concept of model schools.
In times past people dreaded the presence of inspectors on school compounds who checked the performance of teachers and pupils. It was a good opportunity for naming and shaming, by which excellent performance was rewarded, while those who were found wanting paid for mediocrity.
However, the paradox of our present predicament is that though in those days schools were manned by untrained teachers, those teachers were dedicated to their jobs, contrary to the present situation where well-trained teachers can be found in every nook and cranny of the country. Even under that predicament in the past, pupils from rural or less endowed schools competed with their mates from international schools to gain admission to top second-cycle schools in the country.
There is empirical evidence that students from rural settings, when offered the necessary exposure, will perform at the same level or even do better than their mates from the so-called good schools.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has started a pilot project under which it is admitting students from less endowed schools. Reports indicate that these students are doing well.
The DAILY GRAPHIC reiterates the role education plays in our national development agenda, for which reason all efforts should be made to ensure that all children of school age have equal access to education. Anything to the contrary will spell doom for our national crusade to create a classless society, as well as narrow the gulf between the rural and urban settings in terms of development programmes.