A former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Administration (GIMPA) has argued for a reduction of the number of subjects pupils at the Basic School level are examined on.

Professor Stephen Adei says the current subject of 10 that pupils are examined on at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) need to be reduced to four namely English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies.

“Ghana’s basic education has virtually collapsed because we don’t give the children the right preparation and it is about time we reduce the number of subjects they are examined on to four core competencies,” he told Samson Lardy Anyenini, host of Joy FM/MultiTV’s news analysis, Newsfile.

The release of the 2016 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has generated heated debate in Ghana.

According to the results, 1,576 candidates who sat for the paper had some of their subject results cancelled while a total of 598 candidates had their entire results cancelled.

WAEC described the results as “slightly better” than the one recorded in 2015 but the reaction from some educationists and leading political figures points to a different.

Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the results were not inspiring enough.

He says considering that less than half of the students could not make it to the university is a testament of the deteriorating situation the country finds itself under the leadership of President Mahama.

Professor Adei says the results could be sounding a clarion call to the nation to critically examine what is going in the education system.

“We have a national challenge which we must address dispassionately,” he said, adding, there are a lot of underlying issues.

He diagnosed the lack of integrity of schools, teachers and parents, and lack of supervision coupled with the fact that many of the children lack basic resources are affecting the nation’s education system.

Touching on the BECE, he says the subjects pupils are examined on are “too many” requiring an urgent attention to reduce them to four “core competencies.”

English, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies, he believes are the subject pupils should be examined on.