ACTION, NOT WORDS (JULY 26, 2010)

THE sensitive issue of extra classes for pupils and students has come up again. A Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah-Tetteh, revisited the issue yesterday when she warned teachers to stop organising what she described as “compulsory extra classes” for pupils and students.
Her reasons were two-fold: One, that the exercise brought untold financial burden on parents and unbearable pressure and stress on the children and, two, that for a number of teachers it was an easy way of making extra money when they could deliver whatever they had to teach within the normal time allotted for the subject.
As far as the records go, this is not the first time (and it may not even be the last) that this matter has engaged public attention. The DAILY GRAPHIC recalls that in April 2009, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, announced that his ministry would begin issuing circulars that would make it illegal for both public and private schools to organise extra classes. The new directive, he said, would also prescribe punitive measures for teachers who refused to comply.
A year on, however, little or nothing seems to have been done by way of the minister’s directive. Rather, some teachers, as well as students, in the Accra metropolis kicked against the government’s decision to ban extra classes because the ban was not in the best interest of students.
Indeed, the teachers argued that extra classes had become a necessary evil because classes were congested as a result of the lack of structures, thereby seriously compromising the teaching and learning process. What made matters worse, they said, was the syllabus to be covered within the relatively short period.
In fact, the holding of extra classes can be traced back to the period before the introduction of the 1987 educational reforms that brought in the Junior Secondary School (JSS) concept.
Long before that time, students were attending vacation classes, remedial classes and other classes. Today, whether it was a felt need or a created one, the holding of extra classes, vacation classes, remedial classes, pre-senior high school classes, etc has become part and parcel of our educational system.
The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), on the other hand, has been of the view that extra classes for students could be very exploitative, as teachers often charge very high fees, and suggested that the issue should be subjected to a national consultative discussion.
Sadly, the matter has since been left on the drawing board, while our officials continue to bemoan the practice at the least opportunity. To say the least, that is not good enough. Nothing will be resolved by the rhetoric.
The DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the way forward is to seize the bull by the horns and streamline the practice. Ultimately, what we must do is take a radical look at the whole educational enterprise.
We need to have the necessary learning and teaching equipment and materials. Buildings alone may not make a school.
We need teachers who are academically good, professionally competent and have the right kind of attitude towards their work. We also need to motivate them. Until we reach that desired goal or get closer to it, extra classes will be with us for some time.
The DAILY GRAPHIC acknowledges that education holds the key to accelerated and sustainable development. Although the ends are competing for scarce national resources, it behoves the authorities to find more innovative ways of mobilising resources to invest in the people.