Senior Secondary School education in Ghana: an evaluation of current policy and practice under the Ghana educational reform programme
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Date
1998-02-22
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Abstract
The Senior Secondary School (SSS) system in Ghana, introduced in 1991, is a product of the Educational Reform Programme which was initiated in 1987. The 3-year SSS programme is mainly concerned with a nation-wide focus on the acquisition of vocational and technical skills to enable students fend for themselves in self employment or continue their education at the University and other tertiary institutions. Agricultural, Business and General (Arts and Science) programmes are also run as other specialised areas of learning to cater for the differing interests of students.
The study focused generally on the SSS system but particularly on the vocational and technical areas. The basic task of the research was to find out the extent to which the government’s vocationalization policy had worked in the Senior Secondary Schools in the Ashanti region, with a view to identifying potentials and constraints of the system and how best to achieve success in order to promote national development.
Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources, using the complementary multi-method strategy. The sampling technique employed to identify respondents was the purposive sampling method in which the respondents that could appropriately elicit the required information were captured. The findings of the study showed a number of important issues. For example, it showed that, though failure rates have been high, there has been generally a steady and gradual improvement in student’s academic performance since 1993. It also revealed that comparatively the academic performance of vocational and technical students has generally been less impressive in relation to the results of students offering other SSS programmes. The study also showed that there are several constraints inhibiting the proper functioning of the vocational and technical programme including lack of materials and equipment and an acute shortage of qualified teachers and relevant textbooks.
The study offered a number of policy suggestions and recommendations and concluded that with the active collaboration between the Government and all well-meaning and concerned citizens of Ghana, the noble aims of the SSS programme could be achieved.
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A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of Master of Science in National Development Policy and Planning, 1998