The Chairman of the committee which drafted the 2001 report on tbe country's educational reforms which recommended a three year duration for the Senior High School (SHS), Prof Jophus- Anamuah-Mensah, says the forum to dis­cuss the duration of the senior high school (SHS) course is uncalled for because the issue had already been looked into in the past. Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Prof Anamuah-Mensah said he was not delighted that the work of committee members that involved several man hours and resources, as well as travels to all districts in the country for views, had been set aside for fresh resources to be committed into a forum on just the duration of the SHS. Prof Anamuah-Mensah's intervention introduces a new dimen­sion into the debate in which the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools (CHASS) have taken opposing stands on the future duration of the SHS programme. While CHASS has stated its preference for the four-year system, NAGRAT is advancing arguments for a return to the three-year pro­gramme, and the two bodies are expected to articulate their views at the two-day forum which opens in Accra Wednesday. But while the two bodies are at it, with inputs from other stake­holders, Prof Anamuah-Mensah argues that various submissions on the matter already exist and, that what is needed is for technocrats of the educational sector to revisit the documents and endeavour to correct any weaknesses in the implementation of the various recommendations. The National Educational Review Com­mittee which he chaired consisted of a non­partisan membership of eminent people who undertook an extensive reform of the educational system in the country and sub­mitted a report. Members of the review committee set­tled for the maintenance of the three-year SHS programme after deliberations, provid­ed that resources were committed to strengthening the basic levels of education. In implementing the Anamuah-Mensah Report, however, the government changed the SHS duration from three to four years. Prof Anamuah-Mensah said the com­mittee, after looking at the two options of a three-year and a four-year duration for the SHS, settled on the three-year duration, with a caveat that infrastructure and resources would be devoted to the educa­tional sector, particularly from the kinder­garten, the primary to the junior high school (JHS) levels. These levels formed the foundation for the secondary and tertiary levels of educa­tion and the committee thought that a "good foundation would ensure the sterling per­formance of students at those higher levels of education," he noted. He said for him when the government accepted the report but made the duration four years, he thought that was because the infrastructural development and resources needed for the-effective implementation of the three-year programme were not avail­able. However, he said currently figures showed that a criterion reference test, that is, the test to rate the literacy and numeracy of pupils in primary school, showed that only 10 per cent of them gained mastery over those skills. Moreover, a large number of people who should have been absorbed into primary schools could not, while a large majority of pupils completed the basic level of edu­cation with no requisite skills for higher education or professional training, he noted. Prof Anamuah-Mensah said education was the most important structure of any governance system, the basis for all other structures and so if it was toyed with, the results would affect the whole structure of the country. He suggested the revisiting of the views, memos and discussions on the educational review committee and the strengthening of implementation gaps as well as other press­ing issues in the educational sector such as infrastructural development. Teachers grouped under the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) are yet to come up with their position on the matter, but NAGRAT Tuesday renewed its position on the matter, saying its preference for the three-year period was informed by the reality on the ground that the financial resources and the required infrastructure were not in place for the additional one year. In addition, it said the four-year pro­gramme would be a burden on parents, since they would have to pay fees for an additional one year and provide other items for their children. "The three-year system is okay. It has produced doctors, engineers and what have you," the President of NAGRAT, Mr Kwame Alorvi, said in an interview with the Daily Graphic, adding that the priority should rather be on improving facilities in the SHSs. He welcomed the opportunity to articu­late NAGRAT's position at the two-day educational forum called at the instance of the government to discuss the duration of the SHS. The two-day programme will begin today and end on Thursday, May 28,2009. Mr Alorvi said the educational system was confronted with serious challenges, including the payment of the Capitation Grant, scholarships for students in the north, as well as the expansion of the School Feed­ing Programme, due to lack of funds. He said the problems would worsen if the programme was extended by another year. On the argument that the three-year pro­gramme favoured brilliant students, he said a brilliant student was a brilliant student, whether the SHS course was three or four years and that it was students from public basic schools who did not do well. Mr Alorvi argued that the limited resources should be used to improve facili­ties in public basic schools, since it was stu­dents from private sc400ls who were getting admission to the high-profile SHSs. He added that most SHSs did not have adequate facilities for students to ensure effective teaching and learning, adding that it would not be right to ignore those prob­lems. The CHASS, for its part, advocated that the four-year SHS system should be main­tained. It said reverting to the three-year pro­gramme would only favour brilliant stu­dents, pointing out that "this will not be a wise thing to do". While some Ghanaians have called for the maintenance of the four-year system, others have called for a reversion to the three-year system. Following the arguments for and against the four and three-year systems, President JEA Mills said in his State of the Nation Address to Parliament that there would be a nationa1 stakeholders' forum to look at the SHS duration. A 12-member committee has been con­stituted by the Ministry of Education to oversee the forum. It is under the chairman­ship of Dr Stephen Ayidiya of the Universi­ty of Ghana. Source: Daily Graphic