The Ghana Education Service (GES) is to engage the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the public universities to work out an effective plan for the admission of the first batch of four-year senior high school (SHS) students to the universities next year. That discussions will focus on the early release of the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results by WAEC and a delay in reopening the universities to enable the SHS candidates to get their results to apply for admission in 2011, after writing the WASSCE in May/June 201l. The Director of the Basic Education Division of the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said the move stemmed from the fact there would be no WASSCE this year for SHS candidates as a result of the four-year programme. "There is the need for the discussions to see how we can get those who will complete in May/June next year to enter the universities in the same year to clear the backlog of students, instead of waiting to enter in 2012," he said, adding that earlier discussions could not be concluded. Mr Adu said with no students going out this year, the normal academic programme of SHSs would be allowed to run. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government phased out the three-year SHS programme and introduced the four-year programme under the 2007 educational reform. The first batch of the four-year SHS programme will write the WASSCE next year. However, Cabinet has given approval for the revision of the four-year programme to three years, taking effect from September this year. This means that only two batches (the 2007 and 2008 groups) of JHS graduates will go through the four-year SHS programme. The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, last week told Parliament that Cabinet had accepted the proposed reversal of SHS education to three years and indicated that school enrolment for the three-year programme should commence in September this year. He added that Cabinet had also approved the implementation plan for the reversal to three years. The minister was responding to a question posed on the floor of the House by the MP for Asunafo North, Mr Robert Sarfo-Mensah, who had asked the minister about the outcome of the National Education Forum organised by the government to deliberate on the duration of the SHS system and the amount of money spent to organise the forum. The minister dismissed suggestions that the forum had not provided any definite outcome on the duration, explaining that the outcome of the forum had been communicated to Cabinet for policy approval for the reversal of the duration of SHS education from four to three years. Source: Daily Graphic