Where computer meets protocol list

The Mirror Opinion Nov - 20 - 2015 , 02:57

Let me start this article with a question: Is there anyone in Ghana who has absolute faith in the computerised secondary schools selection system; does anyone truly understand it?

This is a straightforward question without any rhetorical hidden parts because with no direct interest in the matter, it is not a subject I have followed with much focus let alone consistency. However, having picked up a number of clues over the past few days, I make bold to pose the question.

It has to be said that managing the transition from junior to senior high school is a worldwide challenge because it is probably one of life’s most important junctions at which choice of future paths can influence a person’s destiny.

The challenge comes from the ever-present task of matching demand and supply. In this case, it is the demand for QUALITY schools which is not matched by adequate supply.

Schools are divided into primary and secondary sections all over the world although there are variations in different parts of the world. The Ghana system has been modelled on the American system in which secondary education is divided into “junior” and “senior”.

In America, a high proportion of secondary schools have both junior and senior while in Ghana, almost all government schools are stand alone junior and senior high schools. Indeed, the “junior high school” has become another name for middle school, as they used to be known in the past.

There appears not to be too much of a problem in the transition from elementary to junior high in the government sector because there is not too much demand. The reason is simple but goes to the root of the trouble with our educational system.

All parents who can afford private primary education give the state sector the widest berth possible. Indeed, the state sector elementary education has been nicknamed cyto, which is a byword for low quality even when applied to other endeavours.

Having said that, it has to be explained that even in the stigma-ridden state sector, there is a caste system based on the lottery of circumstances of birth and residence. Some state primary schools are very good and they are in as much demand as the private sector but there are not many of those.

Of course, the state sector is cheaper than the private sector as some of the latter are said to charge exclusively in foreign currency. Even so, many parents, including those who are struggling to make ends meet, shun the state sector and send their children to private schools known as “international” or “preparatory” schools.

For such parents, this struggle is a worthy sacrifice because only by sending your child to these private schools are they likely to get to a good secondary school.

Therein lies the rub. Secondary schools in Ghana fall into real or imaginary categories based on how students perform in their final examinations or how many students get into public universities.

No matter the name of the classification, they correspond to good, average and not-so-good. Everyone knows which are the good schools from which a child is almost guaranteed a place at the university, and everyone want his or her child to attend one of those.

Here is the bitter irony: the children of the poor are left to sustain the state educational system at the primary school level and are then denied access to state secondary school because they are poor.

The cruel irony has persisted for so long that it has become “normal”; this we perpetrate the myth that the selection of pupils into secondary schools is done on “merit”.

We cannot make this argument in the face of such inequality; the playing field has been loaded with obstacles in front of the goal posts where the children of the poor have to score!

From Nkrumah’s time to the present, no political party, politician or public figure, whether they are socialist or social democrat has raised this specific issue of injustice because people with cash and connections are the beneficiaries of the system.

Indeed, most people do not even realise that it is unfair because it has been the system we are used to all these years. We all exploit it because we can.

Here comes the almighty and mysterious computer which is supposed to arrange for pupils to go into their next preferences based on a system of codes which is completely Greek to the average parent, as far as I understand.

I have tried to understand the computer and its works from parents and so far, I don’t think anyone fully understands how the thing works. It has become an oppressive and opaque process which no-one can challenge.

Into this mix comes the “protocol list”, which is the pinnacle of our unabashed elitist culture. The adage used to be “whom you know” but I understand that it has changed to “who knows you”. It is not sufficient to know a person in the right position; you must yourself be a part of the elite in order to enjoy the benefits of the “protocol list”.

I cannot tell whether the protocol list is real or imaginary but it has created another source of fear and unhappiness for people at the bottom of the social ladder. They believe that it is the protocol list which is compounding their plight.

According to those who know or claim to know, this protocol list operates in the dark and communicated in whispers. It is the means by which “big people” find places for their children in posh schools bypassing grades and computers.

The admission system is a mishmash of confusion and chaos for parents and children because it is not predictable and transparent. In the old Common Entrance days, you knew where you stood with your choices and preferences. The protocol list probably existed but maybe less abused.

Obviously, computers are here to help but they do what we assign them to do and how to do it. In the end, the computer is us!