THE importance of providing Ghanaians access to quality education has consistently been emphasised, especially against the background that there is a pressing need to improve the country’s human resource.
Ever since the time of Ghana's first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, government after government has prioritised education and instituted measures and policies with the intention of improving the quality of education and access to quality education.
While many educational institutions have faced challenges in the provision of quality education over the years, efforts have been made to ensure that the challenges facing the educational sector receive the due attention to enhance the development prospects of the country.
It is against this background that the planned phasing out of the O’Reilly Senior High School (SHS) comes as a disturbing piece of news.
At a time when the country is seeking to improve access to quality education for its teeming youth, this development has really come as a jolt not only to the students and teachers of O'Reilly but also advocates of universal access to quality education.
After 85 years of existence, O'Reilly is faced with the stark truth that the building that has housed it for many years is being demanded by its owners.
Now it appears SHS Two students of the school are bound to be redistributed to other SHSs, while the academic staff are also to be reposted.
The DAILY GRAPHIC appreciates the right of the owners to their facility, but it is important to critically assess the implications of the decisions to be implemented to ensure that, ultimately, there is mutual benefit for all the interested parties.
In that regard, the DAILY GRAPHIC urges all the stakeholders to dispassionately discuss the issue to amicably settle the matter, especially considering the posture of the parent-teacher association (PTA) of the school on the matter.
The PTA Chairman, Alhaji Baba Iddrisu, has served notice that it will proceed to court to prevent any move to implement the decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to phase out the school.
While we appreciate the frustration of the PTA on the matter, the DAILY GRAPHIC wishes to caution against any confrontational posture that can also have implications for academic work in the school.
Some teaching and non-teaching staff of the school have already expressed some concern as to why the educational authorities, all these years, have failed to re-locate the school but waited till this time.
These concerns are not misplaced and there is evidence of the viability of such relocation if the example of the re-location of the Christian Methodist SHS from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to New Aplaku in the Ga South municipality is anything to go by.
As noted by the O’Reilly PTA Chairman, students are national assets whose future must be carefully managed to ensure that they did not unduly go through troubling times through no fault of theirs.
As dicey as the issue may seem, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes all is not lost. We sincerely believe that there is still room for effective discussions to come up with solutions that will be acceptable to all the parties.
Let us not throw up our arms in despair; we must do everything to save O’Reilly SHS.
Yes, we must!
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