The Big Stories || JHS students' standards have been on a downward trend in comparison - Dr. Anti - JoyNews
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00:00 Well, thank you for staying with us and right after sports we get into our big stories.
00:06 We will be getting into the matter of education first off and the BECE is underway.
00:13 Just to take a bit of a snapshot at what has happened so far and what the expectations
00:18 are, we have joining the conversation Dr. Peter Pate, Antti, Executive Director, Institute
00:26 for Education Studies.
00:27 Dr. Antti, a very good morning to you sir.
00:30 Good morning.
00:31 It is good to have you join the conversation.
00:35 I hope you have been well.
00:36 I am doing very well.
00:37 How are you Peter?
00:38 A little under the weather but we are braving the storm.
00:43 It is what it is.
00:44 It is what it is.
00:45 But anyway, just to find out from you to kick start the conversation, it is another session
00:52 of the BECE.
00:54 We have seen the numbers and all of that.
00:56 What are your brief takeaways from this year's numbers and so far from day one what we have
01:02 seen by way of the exam?
01:04 Well, thank you Monique to all the listeners once again.
01:10 For us, we think that this is an annual routine that we have to fulfill on our educational
01:20 calendar.
01:21 It is interesting if you look at the number of students that are sitting for the exams
01:31 and as has been noted by other people, it seems that for the first time in a while a
01:43 lot of females are sitting for the exams as compared to males.
01:47 Of course, the females exceed the males by about 50 or so.
01:57 So that is that.
01:58 There have been pockets of incidents.
01:59 I chanced on one yesterday where the headmaster did not register the students and therefore
02:09 the students could not write.
02:12 And there are other issues that are also coming up.
02:15 For us, we believe that it is the fate and the life of these kids and we should give
02:19 them the maximum support that they need so that they will cross this and then continue
02:27 to further their education.
02:30 And when you look at you, you made mention of the fact that it is a routine.
02:35 Beyond the routine, how relevant is our BECE?
02:39 I ask that from the standpoint of the ever-changing, the fluid educational environment that the
02:46 world is in.
02:47 It is a global village.
02:48 How competitive are our students at that level?
02:51 If you look at BECE, there is an emission in itself.
02:56 You will see that it has gone through certain levels of transition.
03:02 Before now, the BECE used to satisfy two conditions.
03:09 One was used for placement and then it was also used for certification.
03:15 So you would realize that those days when we were writing the BECE and before us, as
03:21 soon as we finish our BECE, we used to use the word "we finished school."
03:26 People would be sharing their books and destroying their shirts and other things to signify that
03:31 they have crossed a certain stage because at that time, the BECE certificate could land
03:38 you some sort of employment and that was what it was.
03:43 And during that period, it was very competitive because people might not be able to continue
03:49 their education after they are finished with the BECE.
03:53 Now in recent times, the BECE is not a final certificate.
03:59 The exam is not for certification.
04:01 The exam is solely for placement and that is why people, even listening to the conversation,
04:06 people seem to confuse this with the viewpoint that the BECE has been scrapped.
04:12 It has not been scrapped.
04:14 It has just been, let's say, redesigned to be used only for certification.
04:20 Sorry, only for placement.
04:22 So you see that after your BECE, you will use the results to enable you to continue
04:28 your education.
04:29 And I dare say that I don't think any institution, I start to be corrected, but I don't think
04:35 any institution would want to take your BECE, only your BECE, and offer you an employment.
04:42 At least, then the terminal point, and that's been a conversation within the education sector
04:48 and even across the country, that the terminal point of a basic education should be the senior
04:53 high school.
04:54 So that is the kind of transformation the BECE has gone through and that is why you
04:59 see that those days we had a cutoff point where you get more than, I would say, six.
05:06 It was difficult for you to even progress in your education.
05:10 Now if you are able to get your marks in English, that is if you don't get nine in math, you
05:17 don't get nine in English, the placement system is able to fix this somewhere because we do
05:21 not want any child to be left behind at the basic, I mean, after DHS 3.
05:29 And it is for good reason.
05:30 Look at the children that are going to write a BECE.
05:33 Look at their age bracket.
05:34 You will see that these are kids that cannot be left alone after they have finished their
05:40 senior high school education.
05:42 So the BECE now helps the individual to be placed in a school after he has done the first
05:53 11 years of his or her education.
06:01 And the relevance of the BECE and have the standards fallen, would you say?
06:07 I talk to a lot of teachers and they will tell you that it seems...
06:15 Of course, because I'm a research person, I wouldn't want to make a categorical assessment,
06:21 but it could be seen from various teachers that the standards are going down.
06:27 And this is supported by teachers that are handling the students in senior high school.
06:33 So if you, ideally, if you want to look at the quality of students that are going to
06:37 the university, you listen to the lectures that are handling them in level 100.
06:41 So if you listen to the teachers that are handling students in SHS 1, they will tell
06:45 you that the quality of the students that are coming in now seems to be a little problematic.
06:53 And I think that all boils down to the conversation that we have on, instead of basic education,
07:01 the pace that goes in there and the various reforms that we continue to make it seem,
07:07 for me, that these reforms, as much as they are very well designed, have not been able...
07:14 We've not been able to translate these reforms into improving the learning outcomes of our
07:21 students.
07:22 And that is very important because reforms are supposed to lead to a specific end, improve
07:30 learning outcomes.
07:31 So if, after certain kinds of reforms, we still do not see the transformation, improvement
07:38 in teaching and learning that would lead to some show of improvement in academic achievement
07:46 of students, then we need to sit back and see how effective these reforms are.
07:53 So from the grapevine, you can see that performance of students comparatively seems to be going
08:02 down.
08:03 And, of course, you also have to understand that now the pressure is so much on getting
08:08 a good school and not getting a school.
08:11 So people who are not so much bothered by certain things will not want to stress themselves
08:18 to get the sixth ones, the eighth ones, the tenth ones that people were struggling for
08:24 in the late...
08:25 In the '90s, I mean, '90s and then late 2000s.
08:29 Now the point is get something and then move on to the secondary school level.
08:35 So it's all part of the dynamics that seems to influence the standards of performance
08:43 that students are exhibiting at this time.
08:47 Okay, now looking at the numbers, just to cap off the conversation, we're looking at
08:51 602,457.
08:56 That's an increment of 49,049 candidates this year.
09:00 But two questions I want to leave you with, and hopefully we can cap off the conversation
09:05 from there.
09:06 One has to do with examination malpractice, and that has characterized all the examinations
09:11 organized by WASI in this, by the West African Examinations Council, I beg your pardon, in
09:17 this country.
09:18 What are your expectations in that regard?
09:20 And also, it appears other countries have found a way of post-COVID letting their academic
09:28 seasons or systems return to normal.
09:31 We've not been able to do that.
09:32 So even with the WASI, we have a Ghanaian version of the WASI now.
09:36 We don't have the West African, so to speak, WASI like we had in previous years.
09:43 What are your reactions to these two?
09:45 Thank you very much.
09:47 In terms of examination malpractice, I always say that we can reduce it to the barest minimum.
09:53 It's going to be difficult to eradicate it, okay?
09:55 So I read some notices from other district education offices encouraging invigilators
10:03 and supervisors to take students to the bone, you might say that.
10:10 And it's a very complex issue, as we always say.
10:15 And I think that all actors within the space should play their role.
10:20 Parents, teachers, invigilators, school authorities, and everyone should play their role.
10:26 If we are able to do this, if we decide to be an honest country that's training honest
10:33 people, then we would be able to get over this.
10:37 But because there is more of a societal challenge, parents want their wards to get the best schools,
10:42 so they need the wards to be able to be placed in the best school.
10:46 So they will find ways and means to do that.
10:48 Certain schools, especially the private schools, use the performance of their students in DEC
10:53 as a big marketing tool.
10:55 So if we are not able to get 100 percent where all our students had 11 ones or 10 ones or
11:02 eight ones, it becomes problematic.
11:05 But if we're able to achieve that, then a lot of people will be bringing their wards
11:08 to our school.
11:09 It's a big marketing tool.
11:11 So those authorities would want to find ways and means to do that to get questions for
11:16 their people.
11:17 I was just with certain legislators of Owasi last year, just this weekend, and I had information
11:27 that they've not been paid.
11:28 You've been a legislator for one year, those who have been a legislator at Owasi, one year,
11:32 and you have not been paid.
11:33 So what is the motivation for you to ensure fit adherence to the rule?
11:39 If people are coming to influence you, wouldn't you be a little bit rich in order to get whatever
11:47 advice you want?
11:48 So all those factors keep on coming up, and I think that anybody that is supposed to play
11:53 their role should play so that we'll be able to minimize the extent of examination
11:58 or project, especially when it comes to leakages of papers and other things.
12:03 That actually downgrades the quality of the certificates that our wards are going to obtain,
12:09 and that will lead to their performance as they progress to other levels of the education.
12:13 Coming back to the calendar, I'm also surprised because I think that we went through various
12:23 processes to ensure that we will be back to the original calendar by this time, and that
12:28 is why we were doing the double track.
12:30 We did a transition.
12:32 Sometimes we shifted from semester to trimester and all those things.
12:36 So I was thinking that by the end of this year, possibly, we should be able to reverse
12:41 to the original calendar that we have.
12:45 If you see the academic arrangements in the various societies which I have knowledge about,
12:52 you see that they are trying very hard to reverse to the original calendar, and I think
12:59 that we should, at the practitioner level, we should be able to do that within next year.
13:05 That I'm sure it will be able to happen.
13:08 Dr. Antia, we're very grateful to you that you took time to join us for this conversation,
13:16 and maybe when the BEC is done, we'll come back to you and find out what your assessment
13:21 will be.
13:22 We're grateful for your time, sir.
13:23 All right.
13:24 Thank you very much, and I wish all students the best of luck.
13:28 Right.
13:29 On their behalf, I say thank you.
13:31 [Music]