Our colonial masters did well bringing education to our part of the world.
Martin Luther King Jr. Said “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically”
There is a saying that goes ‘’all heads are not equal’’ and there’s no doubt of students failing in an examinations across the globe.
The educational curriculum initiating the RESIT EXAMINATION POLICY has become a venom and canker gradually killing the interest of student rather than it intended purpose; therefore doubling of credit hours for resit exams must be abolish now.
What is the purpose of the RESIT POLICY introduction in our tertiary institution if not to redefine and rebrand the face of our tertiary education, giving equal opportunities to student’s who with unforeseen circumstances fail a paper or course to rewrite.
This implies that the doubling of credit hours for resit examination put students who are in this circumstance at disadvantage with a long term implication in their careers development.
For instance a student who fails a three (3) credit hours course or paper after writing resit exams, his or her credit hours doubles up to six (6) credit hours for four (4) credit hours paper after writing resit exams, may end up doubling his or her credit hour eight(8) credit hours.
This situation affects the students overall Grade Point Average (GPA) in many case bring the students overall GPA down. In this current world of educational competition for scholarships and other incentives this student is at great disadvantage compared to other students who do not go through such inflexible educational system.
The financial implication of resit examination is something that needs serious attention. Students are being asked for registration fee ranging from GH50.00 – Gh100.00 per paper or course in almost all the tertiary institution in Ghana.
This also put a lot of financial constraints on students especially student from low income homes.
Student sometimes are not able to register for the resit examination due to the fact that they are unable to pay for these fees. The resit is now a financial punishment for parents and guardians and a money making venture for our tertiary institutions.
The academic policy that gave birth to resit examination policy has brought nothing but a revenue and profit venture to our tertiary institution across the country rather than given equal opportunities to student’s who failed a paper in their semester exams at the expense of the ordinary student, aiming high to study and to serve his motherland Ghana .
This policy over the years has become a rancour and canker ripping the hard earned CGPA of student’s in our tertiary institutions.
This resit policy is the breeding grounds of Examination Malpractice in our tertiary institution because due to the fear that his or her credit hours will double up if he or she fails a paper therefore the drastic action has to be taken to pass the course by all means.
A policy that our colonial masters don’t even practice and we emulating them are now eradicating the very essences of the tertiary institution.
The socio-economic implication of this dangerous policy is the unemployment cancer of this country because we are in a country where companies only employ first class and second class upper division students from our tertiary institutions in the country.
Opinion they say is like noses everyone has one however….
I call on GES and the Ministry of Education to help abolish this educational calamity befallen our tertiary education.
In bringing my case to a close i would like to offer four suggestions that:
- Course credit hours are not double but maintained as it is until the student pass the examination.
- Registration fees for resit examination are determined by a centralized body made up of tertiary education managers and reviewed as and when the need arises.
- Developed a system to make examination in tertiary institution flexible such that examination windows are open twice in a year for student to register for the examination they are ready to take.
- Time frame should be given to undergraduate programme within which to complete. For example a four years degree programme can take six years to complete after which the student is withdrawn if he or she has some more examination to take.
I call on GNUTS, NUGS, Student Activism and other organizations to humbly help the quest to bring this flexibility into our country’s education system and reduce the financial burden on parent and guardians
I call on every SRC president and stakeholders to join campaign to bring flexibility into our educational system.
God bless GES
God bless Ghana.
God bless KTU.
Signed.
Nana Yaw Ewusi
Student of KTU.
(0543530175)
