Construction of new 50 SHS to begin this year - Mahama

Source: Daily Graphic Online  - President John Mahama has reiterated his commitment to improving quality education in the country.

According to him, this is evident in the introduction of the resit examination for private candidates at the basic education level and the implementation of the progressively free Senior High School (SHS) programme at the start of the 2015/16 academic year.

Delivering the State of the Nation address in Parliament Thursday, President Mahama said as part of efforts to expand access to quality education, government would this year begin work on the construction of additional 50 community-based SHS expected to benefit 367,000 day students.

“My resolve to expand access, improve quality and to ensure affordability was accentuated when we assessed the results of the West African Secondary School Exams (WASSCE) over the years,” President Mahama said.

According to him, the worse performance of the WASSCE was recorded in 2007 and not in 2014 as was portrayed.

“Between 2006 when the WASSCE began and 2014, the best performance index on students who obtained A1 to C6 was in the year 2012. Incidentally, the worst performance was recorded in 2007. In 2012, 31.19 per cent of students attained grades A1 to C6. In the worst performing year in 2007, only 10.58 per cent made grades A1 to C6,” he said.

“These statistics demonstrate the modest gains that we are making in improving quality education,” President Mahama said, adding that he would continue to work with stakeholders to ensure improvement over the next few years.