Calls for 'O' and 'A' level educational system misplaced - Former Minister

Former Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku Agyemang has said its not relevant for government to

According to her, the current educational needs massive impovement.

A communiqué from the Ghana Charismatic Bishops’ Conference is urging the government to bring back the 'O and A' level system of education.

The bishops consider the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level education systems as "better than what we currently have".

"Ghana has been subjected to an inferior form of education through the JHS and SHS for many years," the bishops said, adding: "We call the JHS and SHS educational system an inferior form of education because many politicians and well-to-do Ghanaians do not subject their children to the current JHS and SHS system. Instead, they take their children to schools that do ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ Level because they can afford to.

"If JHS and SHS was not an inferior form of education, why do they take their children out of it when they have the money to do so?

"We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because the quality of the products of the schools and the universities today, leaves much to be desired. Any employer today knows that there are many of our graduates who cannot even read and write English properly. D. We call the JHS and SHS an inferior form of education because prestigious schools in Ghana (like Wesley Girls’ High School) do their own entrance examination to screen their students."

But the former Education Minister said "The system we have is not perfect, no system is perfect. The ‘O’ and ‘A’ level [system] was not perfect, so we can grow what we have and make it strong. If we are talking about bringing the old system back, we have the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level system that was very selective and I think we can all return to the statistics."

In an interview on Accra-based Citi FM, she said "How many children were in primary school then? How many got the chance to write the common entrance? How about the so many of our own children who never had the change at the ‘O’ level? We should speak for them. …If we bring a system that widens the net, and brings many more people on board, it is useful for us."