EDUCATION IN GHANA

Ghana has 12,130 primary schools, 5,450 junior secondary schools, 503 senior secondary schools, 21 training colleges, 18 technical institutions, two diploma-awarding institutions and five universities serving a population of 17 million, this means; that most Ghanaians have relatively easy access to good education. In contrast, at the time of independence in 1957, Ghana had only one university and handful of secondary and primary schools. In past decade, Ghana's spending on education has been between 28 percent and40 percent of its annual budget.

Basic education

Primary-and middle-school education is tuition-free and will be mandatory when enough teachers and facilities are available to accommodate all the students for providing education. Students begin their 6-year primary education at age six.  Under educational reforms implemented in 1987, they pass into a view junior secondary school system of their education for 3 years of academic training combined with technical and vocational education.

Senior Secondary education

After education in basic school, pupils many enter Senior secondary (or technical/vocational)schools of education for a three-year course, which prepare them for university education.Students usually study a combination of three (in some cases, four) 'elective' subjects  and a number of core subjects. For example, a science student could have their education in Additional Mathematics, education in Chemistry, education in Biology  and education in physics as his 'elective' subjects An arts student might their education in  Geography,education in Economics and education in Literature as his elective subjects. In addition to the elective subjects, there is education in  'core' subjects, which are those studied by all students in addition to their 'electives. The 'core subjects include education in Mathematics, education in English, and education in Science.

At the end of the three year senior secondary course, students are required to sit for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations ( WASSCE). Students who obtain aggregate 18 or better (six is best) can enter the university education. University the score is determined by aggregating the the student's grades in his elective subjects. The aggregate score is then added to the aggregate score of his best 'core' subjects, with scores in English and Mathematics considered first.

So if an student scores 'A' in Geography 'B' in Literature and 'C' in Economics, he'd  obtain an aggregate score of 6 for his elective (i.e. A=1; B=2 & C=3...F(fail)=6). His best electives are then added if he obtain 'B' in English,'C' in Mathematics and 'A' in Social Studies, his best 'core aggregate will be six. Therefore his overall aggregate score will be 12 and he qualifies for admission into university. Once again, an overall aggregate score of six is best.

Tertiary education

Entrance to universities is by examination following completion of senior secondary education  enrollment totals 2 million: 1.3 million primary 107.600
Secondary;489,000 middle; 21,280 technical; teacher training; and 5,600 university.

Education is mainly in English.