An academic group, Progressive Intellectuals, have tipped public universities to run a double track system as a result of government’s Free Senior High School program. The group is made up of lecturers and academics from the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Development Studies. Speaking at a public forum dubbed ‘Pubic Policy Dialogue’ at the University of Ghana, sociology lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Samson Obed Appiah, stated the rushed implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) would have a knock-on effect on university admission. “You will realize that our government policy on the Free SHS does not have a direct link with the tertiary institution. So next year, 2020, don’t be surprised to see the same challenges we saw with the Free SHS in the tertiary institutions.” “My question is, are we going to have double track in our universities?” he quizzed. University of Ghana was hit with an accommodation crisis in September this year with the admission of the first year students. It is estimated that some 45,000 students will be seeking enrollment in public universities with the fresh batch of the free senior high school students. Dr. Appiah noted the University of Ghana like all the other universities does not have the capacity in terms of accommodation, lecture halls and human resource to meet the challenge of enrollment in 2020. “Accommodation is something I can confidently say our government is not ready…how many lecture halls have we but up?” Dr. Appiah suggested government should lift the moratorium on employment of lecturers. He lamented over the workload of lecturers saying, “I have a level 100 sociology class of 1,785 which I divided into 3 classes … students are always looking for place to sit.” The group fears quality education might be compromised for political gains. By Paul Selorm Agbo| 3news.com | Ghana ]]>
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