Directors of Education proposes reduction of JHS subjects to 6

The argument over the number of subjects studied at the Junior High School (JHS) level may not end anytime soon as the Conference of Directors of Education (CODE) has suggested to Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service to reduce the number of subjects’ pupils study at the basic school level.

They have proposed that the number of subjects students are examined on at the JHS should be reduced to six.

The Education Directors also suggested that whiles pupils in the kindergarten and lower primary should study only numeracy, literature and physical education, those in upper primary and students in junior high school (JHS) should be made to study six subjects, instead of nine.

In a communique issued and signed by the National President and the National Secretary of CODE, Mrs Margaret Frempong-Kore, and Mr Isaac Nsiah Edwards at the end of the 24th annual conference of CODE at Abesim, near Sunyani, in the Brong Ahafo region, other subjects can be taught without students being examined on them to enable faster grading and better output from the students.

The education directors argued that the rising cases of examination malpractices could be attributed to stress as a result of the high number of subjects students are made to study.

Mrs Frempong-Kore explained that at the Kindergarten and lower primary levels, the major problem now was literacy and numeracy.

She said "By the time that the child leaves the lower primary, if he cannot read, he cannot grasp other subjects taught at Upper Primary and the JHS levels."

She added that the Conference of Directors of Education also wanted the subjects taught at the upper primary and the JHS levels to be reduced from nine to six because there was a challenge about reading .