SHS categorisation discriminates against deprived pupils — NUGS President

President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Rashid Ibrahim, has questioned the fairness of the competition for Category A Senior High Schools (SHSs).

He argued that students from disadvantaged basic schools compete against peers from better-resourced schools under unequal conditions.

His comment comes amid recent debates over the Senior High School placement challenges, where several students failed to secure automatic placement.

The Education Ministry has attributed much of the pressure to the high demand for Category A schools.

Of the 313,283 candidates who selected Category A schools as their first choice, only 76,417 vacancies were available, creating a significant mismatch between demand and available places.

Reacting to this in a social media post on Wednesday, September 9, the NUGS President said the disparities in access to teachers, electricity, textbooks, computers and science laboratories at the basic education level put some pupils at a disadvantage long before they sit for the same examinations.

According to him, categorising SHSs into A, B and C further compounds the inequality by placing students from deprived schools in direct competition with those from well-resourced schools for limited places in highly sought-after institutions.

He argued that students who study under trees, share inadequate textbooks or attend schools without basic learning facilities cannot reasonably be expected to compete on equal terms with pupils who have access to well-resourced urban schools.

He said the situation could create a cycle in which disadvantaged children receive poorer educational opportunities, compete under unequal conditions and are subsequently judged solely on their examination results.

“I am not suggesting that academic standards should be lowered. I am saying that equality does not mean treating unequal circumstances as though they are equal,” he said.

The NUGS President said the country’s responsibility should extend beyond examining, ranking and assigning students to schools and instead focus on reducing inequalities in basic education.