Scorecard: Universities do not have the means to admit graduates in free SHS – Prof. Quartey

Current high school and high school students will find it very difficult to access higher education from 2020, when they would qualify.

This is due to the fact that higher education institutions currently do not have the capacity to absorb future graduates whose number has increased considerably following the implementation of the high school free policy. by the government.

About 430,000 students were admitted to high schools in 2018/2019, 90,000 more than the previous year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Even at this level, the Ministry of Education had to introduce the multi-track system in order to alleviate the pressure that most schools were undergoing during the 2017/2018 academic year, when the free SHS policy has started.

Speaking Tuesday, November 27, at a public forum on Joy FM, evaluation sheet Peter Quartey, head of the economics department of the University of Ghana, stressed the urgency for the government to invest in tertiary sector expansion projects.

The economics professor at the Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) says it bluntly, universities are currently not able to let in those who will have the minimum entry qualifications .

In 2014/2015, the number of students enrolled in public and private higher education institutions in the country rose to 319,659. This figure is expected to triple, which will prompt Professor Quartey to alert the government not to wait [free SHS graduates] get to the university "before you start looking for solutions.

Because it will not work, he warned.

"Let's start planning because the numbers have doubled [and] universities do not have the necessary capacity, "suggested the professor.

Professor Ernest Aryeetey was Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana in 2015.

By 2015, the University of Ghana reportedly rejected more than 17,000 Ghanaian students who had applied to pursue various programs. The decision was mainly due to the limited number of facilities and staff in the school, among other factors.

Professor Quartey, for example, mentioned last year that parents of some 11,000 first-year students admitted to the country's first university only had to compete for 3,000 beds, which is why 39, he described as "very frustrating".