BYE, BYE TO SHIFT SYSTEM (SEPT 4, 2010)

THE importance of education has never been in doubt. It is valued in society because it is a vehicle for imparting knowledge and skills.
Furthermore, education cultivates character and develops the intellect. Strategies and methods used in the process are many and varied. This is why psychologists, philosophers and educationists advocate proper and adequate training for everyone.
Such formal training is critical at the primary and secondary levels of education where teachers have to cope with young children and adolescents at a very impressionable stage of the development of their intellect and personality.
It is for this reason that the DAILY GRAPHIC welcomes the decision of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to abolish the shift system for public schools in Accra with effect from the next academic year, which begins some 10 days hence.
The school system has been run on shift basis for the past two decades or more. Under the shift system, classrooms are shared between two classes, where one uses it in the morning for a stipulated period and the other in the afternoon.
This situation militated against the eight hours study period, reducing it to four, hence limited time for co-curricula activities.
This approach has led to some social ills like truancy and laziness. But worse of all, the children end up poorly educated.
It is sad that what was meant as a stop gap measure due to the lack of infrastructure, teachers and learning materials was to metamorphose into a permanent feature of our educational system.
We, therefore, applaud the Mayor, Mr Alfred Oko Vandapuye, for the bold stand he has taken against the shift system and putting in place measures to mark its abolition at the beginning of this academic year.
At a meeting with headteachers, circuit supervisors and officers in charge (OICs) of basic schools, Mr Vanderpuije said after working with churches, heads of private schools and individual property owners, the AMA had secured enough structures and, in some cases, built temporary ones to be used as classrooms for the education of the children.
He also said 200 members of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) had been assigned to assist teachers in the schools.
Much as the DAILY GRAPHIC is happy with the measures the AMA has so far put in place, we wish to emphasise that the success of the exercise will largely depend on the determination, dedication and devotion of teachers and parents who will really be at the centre and we, therefore, urge them to offer their very best.
It is important to note that successive governments had, since independence, made attempts to eradicate such a system that has bedevilled the educational system, in a bid to provide opportunities to all Ghanaian children, and we must do everything to protect this new landmark in our education development programme.
Our survival as a nation hinges on how well our educational institutions are able to produce quality human resources at all times and we should, therefore, be prepared to stand up for these children through thick or thin until we cross the Rubicon.
Let the new wind of change in shift system of our education bring about a refreshing change in our attitudes and lay the desired foundation for all our children towards a brighter tomorrow.