Stop calling for cancellation of CSSPS-Veep
Vice President John Dramani Mahama has advised Ghanaians to desist from advocating the cancellation of Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) due of the difficulties that came with it during the selection of students in the 2011/2012 academic year.
Speaking at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Sefwi-WIawso Senior High School (SEWASS), the Vice President said the CSSPS might not be perfect but “we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water”.
He made reference to recent complaints about the selection and placement of students under the CSSPS by many parents and students with some calling for its abolition and added that “the people must accept the challenge with cool head for us to have sufficient time to address the issue”.
Mr Mahama noted that, government had made education its cornerstone in its development agenda and to that end, he said, government was investing heavily in the development of school infrastructure and making enough effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ahead of the 2015 target year.
He indicated that 1,000 schools had been constructed and 1,600 were under construction under the programme to eliminate schools under trees, and indicated that additional 1,000 new schools would be constructed next year to rid the country of schools under trees.
The Vice President, in response to an appeal made by the Headmaster of SEWASS, Mr K. Someah-Addae, and the School Prefect, Prince Gyamerah, promised the school authorities that the government would continue with the construction of a three-storey girls’ dormitory and also fund the construction of a boys’ dormitory.
He again assured the school that he would request the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to procure a bus for the school and connect the school’s computer laboratory to the Internet.
Established in September 1961, with only three students, SEWASS was the first secondary school to be built in the Western Region. Now boasting of 1,000 male and female students, the school has produced prominent Ghanaians, including the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, a High Court Judge, Mr Justice Edward Amoako Asante, who chaired the function, and a Special Advisor to the Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Seinti Baffoe-Bonney.
