Out of the over 720 senior high schools in the country, only 110 of them have had their students make it to the two traditional medical schools at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Ghana.
Prof Addae Mensah, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana disclosed this in an interview with JoyNews.
While recounting the gains of the schools of origin on 60 years of medical education, the academician said the contributions made by these institutions have been enormous taking into account the quantum and quality of personnel churned out.
Prof. Addae Mensah was, however, worried that little has been achieved in the area of studying medicine as a vehicle for social mobility.
The academician explained “at the last count, we are supposed to have 720 senior high schools in the country.”
“For the period of 2012 to 2020, we have admitted 1,272 to the University of Ghana Medical School. We have admitted similar numbers to the KNUST School of Medical Sciences.
Prof Addae Mensah is of the view that rather than set up STEM schools as the government intends to do, it should concentrate effort in replicating what makes the few schools do better in the low-performing schools.
The Professor believes that sacrificing quality for quantity is not the way to go.
He wants government to engage all stakeholders to relook and rethink the policy in order to make it more sustainable.
Report by: Jeffrey