‘Categorisation of SHS cause of challenge in placement of students’

A retired Justice of the Appeal Court, Justice Isaac Delali Duose, has lamented the categorisation of second cycle institutions in the country, a situation which has contributed to the challenges in the placement of students.

The practice, Justice Douse said, has led to the unequal distribution of resources among second cycle institutions as the grade ‘A’ schools seemed to get the best of resources to function.

He maintained that as a result of the categorisation, some schools ended up getting the best students and put up stellar performances in the

West African Senior Secondary School Examinations (WASSCE) as compared to other senior high schools which did not fall within that category.

“There should be equity in the dissemination and supply of materials and structures in our educational institutions. That is when and only when there will be justice in the even training of our people” he opined.

Technical Education

Speaking at the ninth Annual Dowuona-Hammond Memorial Lecture in Accra, as part of activities to mark the 70th Anniversary Celebration of Winneba Secondary School, Justice Douse stressed the need for technical education to be prioritised in the country.

“The paradigm must shift. Too much academic work doesn’t produce anything. People who use their hands to produce goods are not stupid. It is not hard, work,” he said.

He said there was nothing the hand could do without the mind adding that “the most intelligent people in this world are people who are able to conceive things with their mind and produce them into goods with their hands.”

Justice Duose, therefore, suggested the conversion of some senior high schools into technical institutions without which Ghana would remain poor.

“I’d like to see in the nearest future where our people are able to convert the gold we are proud of into trinkets, chains and jewellery and make the likes of Accra and Kumasi the hub of production of golden goods in the world.

I want to see a day when we can convert the bauxite into aluminium in this country. We have been digging the sand and sending it abroad for far too long,” he stressed.

Advice to Parents

A former Chief of the Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo-Mensah (Rtd), who also spoke at the function, called on parents to take keen interest in the education of their children.

“Nobody will teach your children better than yourself.

If we take more interest in the welfare of our children they will perform well in school and become responsible citizens in future” he noted.

Mr Nunoo-Mensah also lamented the failing state of leadership in the country which he attributed to the failure of individuals elected and appointed to head institutions to think critically and proffer pragmatic solutions to solve the numerous problems confronting the country.

“Ghanaians are very intelligent. What we lack is the men and women with good brains at the top. We don’t have them,” he indicated.