Challenging Heights, an educational NGO has said that there is danger ahead for the educational system because politicians are seeking to serve their political quests than the public interest. In a press statement issued on Thursday August 20 and signed by the executive director, James Kofi Annan, the group says it has reason to believe that government is bent on implementing the three year Senior High School (SHS) program against the popular acceptance of the four years. The group alleges that Parliament has been called to sit on Tuesday August 25 to possibly amend the Education Act of 2008 to change the SHS duration from four years to three years. The statement said in 1999, an educational forum led by Dr. Ekow Spio-Grabrah overwhelmingly proposed four years of senior secondary school in Ghana. Besides, it said current Minister of Education, Alex Tettey-Enyo supported the four-year SHS as per the November 14, 2008 Parliamentary hanzard. Challenging Heights also alleged that the Anamuah-Mensah Committe misled Ghanaians by recommending three years of Senior Secondary School when their nationwide institutional and expert consultations and forum received an overwhelming support for the four years SSS. Findings of a nationwde survey conducted by Challenging Heights, according to the group, indicated that there was an overwhelming support of 97 per cent for four years SSS while 92 per cent said that the timing of the change from the four to three years is inappropriate. The statement added that available data shows that 80 percent of all tertiary admissions from the SSS are produced by five percent of the secondary schools in the country, meaning that nearly 95 of the secondary schools are producing children onto the streets and into child labour. “We are concerned that the way politicians are handling this issue will definitely endanger the quality of education in Ghana. We believe for instance that the previous government could have maintained the names of the two secondary schools – Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) instead of changing them to Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS). Our investigations revealed that this change in name gave it a political twist and paved the way for the present government to want to reverse the SHS to three years,” the statement said. The group urged government to suspend its decision to reverse the implementation of the four years to three. The desire, if pursued, will spell disaster for the country since adequate preparations have not been put in place with only three weeks to the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year, the group argued. They raised concerns about the fact that there is currently no syllabi reviews; no textbooks reviews; teachers have not been re-oriented; the poor logistical conditions at the basic school level have not improved; and the majority of the children graduating from the basic schools still have poor literacy backgrounds. Although the group agrees that government will save cost by implementing the three-year SHS program, it said the risk of early child work and the social cost to the country of ill-prepared children will be felt after they graduate and it will be too late to remedy. Story by Aglanu Dela Ernest/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana