Former President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has called for a deliberate national effort to upgrade all Senior High Schools (SHSs) to a standard that makes them equally attractive to students and parents.

He questioned why Ghana continues to categorise some SHSs as “Category A” while other schools struggle to attract students, arguing that the situation reflects a failure to provide equitable standards across the country’s secondary education system.

Speaking on Adom FM Dwaso Nsem, Mr Carbonu said the strong preference for a relatively small number of schools is one of the major factors contributing to the persistent challenges associated with the SHS placement process.

“Why should we even be calling some schools Category A? It is a reflection of our failure as a country,” he said.

According to him, there are about 70 schools that attract the interest of as many as 60 per cent of JHS graduates seeking placement.

He questioned why such a large proportion of students would want to attend only a small group of schools.

“Why do 60 per cent of applicants want to go to that school? It is because they have the semblance of what looks like a school,” he said.

Mr Carbonu noted that Ghana has more than enough SHSs to accommodate students but argued that the challenge is that many parents do not want their children placed in certain schools.

He attributed this to factors including the absence of boarding facilities, poor school environments, and inadequate facilities to support students pursuing courses of their choice.

He also observed that some schools resort to advertising only after the placement process in an attempt to attract students.

“If we have more than enough SHS, but the problem is that there are schools parents don’t want their children there because they don’t have boarding facilities or the environment that will help them study for the courses they want, then as a country, why don’t we make sure we make all SHSs Category A?” he asked.

Mr Carbonu questioned the basis for maintaining the current categorisation of schools, particularly when the objective should be to provide every child with access to a quality learning environment.

“Who should go to A and who should go to C?” he asked.

He further questioned why Ghana has not been able to upgrade all its SHSs to a comparable standard, despite having about 1,000 SHSs across the country.

“Why are we still talking about Category A without thinking the rest also need to be upgraded to that level?” he questioned.

According to him, schools such as Wesley Girls’ High School, St. Mary’s Senior High School and Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School (PRESEC-Legon) have benefited from strong support from parents, old students and other stakeholders, making their facilities and environment more appealing.

However, he acknowledged that similar fundraising efforts may not be possible in every school, particularly in communities where parents lack the financial capacity or believe that funding education infrastructure is primarily the government’s responsibility.

Mr Carbonu therefore believes the state must take a deliberate and systematic approach to improving schools instead of leaving their development largely to the fortunes of individual institutions and their alumni networks.

“We have to be deliberate as a country,” he said.

“We must identify what we want to call a school, what facilities and environment they should have and announce to the public that these schools are now Category A schools.”

He also proposed the introduction of annual targets to ensure that the upgrading of schools is measurable and that successive governments can be held accountable for progress.

For Mr Carbonu, the long-term solution to the recurring SHS placement challenges is not simply to expand the number of schools available, but to ensure that the quality, facilities and learning environment across those schools are sufficiently attractive to parents and students.

Such an approach, he argued, would reduce the intense competition for a handful of schools and give students a more meaningful choice of quality SHSs regardless of where they are placed.