New uniforms will boost morale but won’t work magic - Educationist

Retired Educationist, Ibrahim Kwaku Gyasi has welcomed the introduction of new uniforms for pupils at Junior High Schools as announced by the Ghana Education Service (GES) Thursday, April 11.

He agrees that wearing a uniform different from those at the primary schools, will serve as a moral booster for the JHS pupils who are preparing for the senior high level.

However, that alone will not produce the much-needed results, he stated. “Without a strong foundation it is not [the] change of uniform which is going to produce results,” he said on Newsnite on Joy FM.

The GES Director-General, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, announced several reforms undertaken at the basic education level, including replacing the existing primary school curriculum and introducing new uniforms for JHS pupils, which takes effect at the start of the next academic calendar in September.

According to Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, the introduction of the school uniform for the JHS pupils is a psychological strategy to make the pupils see themselves as part of the Senior High School education system even before they get there.

“When you go to other countries and you finish primary school, you exit straight into secondary school; junior secondary or senior secondary is part of the entire secondary education.

“In our case, our structure is such that JHS students are part of the primary school. So they tend to see themselves as primary school students [pupils] but the idea of the introduction of these uniforms is to let them see themselves as secondary school students,” he told the press.

Read also: Looking for new GES curriculum for basic schools? Find it here…

While giving approval of the new reforms, the retired educationist lamented at the seeming neglect of the basic level in terms of infrastructure development, compelling schools to hold teaching and learning under trees.

He noted that in some cases children sit on the bare floor to study without books, a situation which should not occur

In other instances, teachers have no common rooms and no materials for teaching while the pupils are compelled to sit in pairs on mono desks due to the infrastructural challenges.

These challenges, Mr. I.K Gyasi wants to see addressed and not only a change of uniform.

Ibrahim Kwaku Gyasi

“Change of uniforms will boost their morale…but ultimately, it is the provision of teaching and learning materials which will enhance learning and teaching,” he argued.

He, therefore, urged government to pay much attention to addressing the challenges at the basic level which is the catalyst to the delivery of the quality education required in building the human resource of the nation.

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