Four-year SHS was good — say students

There have been arguments whether or not government should reintroduce the four-year academic period for Senior High Schools.

However, government has resolved to maintain the three-year period, thus causing two batches of students to write the 2013 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

These two cohorts are vying for the limited space in the country’s public and private universities.

While some have condemned the action of government to graduate the two groups at the same time, others think otherwise.

Below are the views of some students from the two cohorts who wrote this year’s WASSCE.

Philomena Assan
Winneba Senior High
3years
General Arts

I am not very happy with my results. Although they are okay and I can get admission to a tertiary institution, I could still have done better. The three years were short, and we couldn’t cover much of the syllabus. To me, the four-year SHS is very good compared to the three years.

My reason is that the first year at school is used   for school activities and so no serious academic work is done. And since the syllabus is loaded the teachers tend to rush through.

At the end of it all there was no time to revise or go over the notes.

Eustace Essel
Swedru Senior High
General Art
4yrs

The four years really helped me because school activities took much of the time during the first year and we did not do any serious studies. But after the first year, we had three years of serious studies and also enough time to revise our notes over and over again. That helped a lot and I am comfortable with my results.

Lois Ama Agyapong
Nsaba Presby Senior High School
General Arts
4yrs

I did well except for Core Maths, which was a bit difficult for me. The four years is good because we were able to complete the syllabus and had time to revise. I suggest the four years should be taken into consideration to help the next batch of students so they can also perform well in the WASSCE.

Abigail Acquah
Ghana Senior High Sch
4yrs
General Art

My results are satisfactory and I am very pleased with my effort.  The four years really helped me because during the first year at school we go through a lot of challenges.

Getting  used  to the  new  environment and school programmes take some time  that is why I am  all for  the four-year  programme.

Eva Danso Mireku
Anson’s Senior High School
4yrs
General Arts.

My results were okay just that the Science was a little difficult for me. On the whole, I think the four-year programme is better than the three, because we were able to cover most of the syllabus.  It also gave all of us ample time to go over what we had studied.

Samuel N.K. Arthur
St Augustine’s College
3years
Business

I did very well and I am pleased with my results. The topics in the syllabus were loaded so we couldn’t complete them.  Due to that, we had to attend extra classes to catch up. The four years could have taken us through everything, if it had been implemented.

Junior Graphic/Ghana