The former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, has called on stakeholders in Ghana’s educational system to consider going back to the O-Level system.
Agyei Agyepong indicated that he prefers the O-Level system because the current Junior High School (JHS) system does not provide holistic training to students compared to the O-Level system, 3newsroom.com reports.
He added that graduates of the O-Level system, who were mostly between the ages of 17 and 18-years-old were well trained and gained employment in various fields, including the Ghana Police Service and the Ghana Armed Forces.
“I think that if we can ever go back to the original system we should go back to it. In those days when you finish O-Level 17, 18 years, you can go off into the Army, the Police.
“I think that if we can ever go back to the original system we should go back to it. In those days when you finish O-Level 17, 18 years, you can go off into the Army, the Police.
“You were a man when somebody graduated from O-Level, then after that, you can come to 6th Form for two years, then you can branch-off whether you want to continue to [the] technical area, security services, do business or go through the humanities at the University.
“I think that was a much better system, it was more equitable, and it gave the opportunity for students all over the country to mix up. It (JHS system) doesn’t help the coerciveness of the country because in those days, we had students coming from Osiem LA Middle School, and they will make it to Mfanstipim,” he said.
Agyei Agyepong, who is also an NPP flagbearer hopeful, further stated that he does not like the JHS system because it keeps students at the same location for too long.
“If you stay at home and you come from a family that is a bit well to do, you won’t sweep, you won’t know [how] to lay a bed, you won’t wash toilet, you won’t weed, so they grow up by the time they are 15, 16, you push them to SHS they are there for two and a half years,” he added.