Gaining Access To Anything Through Protocol Means Promotes �Elitism�

The confusion surrounding the selection of Junior High School students into Senior High schools through the computerization system, has been a topic for extensive discussions in the media these past few days. Though there has always been some level of education on the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), every year since the inception of the system seven years ago, both parents and students are still mystified by the criteria for selection. 182,000 students who sat for the 2013 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) could not obtain pass marks to enter the second-cycled institutions in the country. Though the Deputy Minister of Education, Okudzeto Ablakwa, insists the actual numbers who failed in the examination is a little over 70,000 students. With such a huge number of students striving for opportunities of climbing up the academic ladder, the possibility of corrupt officials taking advantage of them is high. One of the ways to go around the CSSPS, is by the making it onto the �protocol� list but Kwesi Pratt Jnr., the Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper has stated that this promotes �elitism�. According to him, �even though the Ministry of education has indicated that the protocol system no longer works, if you on the ground, everybody is still talking about the protocol system�. �We are now getting into a situation where if your children are going to school, you need to apply the protocol system. IF your children have to get jobs, you have to go by way of protocol. Whatever we do, there is a protocol list and I think that this is promoting elitism in everything and it is frightening�. Sharing his thoughts on the issue on Metro Tv�s �Good Morning Ghana�, Mr. Pratt was of the view that the protocol system must be scraped because it favours only the privileged in society. He further called for a review of Ghana�s educational system in a holistic manner and also advocated for the use of continuous assessment in grading students. �There are a billion students who can fail exams because of exam pressure and because of all kinds of things that can happen examination day. In many places, the system of continuous assessment is used to improve the system of testing. I don�t know why continuous assessment has not become more prevalent in the system that exists today,� Kwesi Pratt said.