Togbega Gabusu, Paramount Chief of Gbi Traditional Area on Tuesday said there was no empirical evidence to equate the duration of the Senior High School (SHS) programme to the plummeting standards of education in the country.
He said major stakeholders who had brought their depth of experiences to reform the sector were familiar with the real problems that were responsible for the falling standards.
"Stakeholders must, therefore, tackle the issues from the source and refrain from politicizing the concerns in the education sector," he said.
Togbega Gabusu, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the subject of the duration of the SHS programme, said the back and forth tussles on the academic calendar for the SHS programme were anti-developmental.
He said the present and past regimes had tried to reform the sector for desired results but had relegated the core issues; the teacher, remuneration, motivation, equipment and infrastructure to the periphery and were rather "crying wolf".
Togbega Gabusu said the current attempt to peg the duration of the SHS programme to four years was a wasted effort on the national purse.
He said the availability of quality training and motivation were crucial for teacher excellence in teaching, learning and improved standards and asked "if the provision of facilities alone was enough to increase standards".
Togbega Gabusu said changes in school uniforms did not add anything to standards but rather over-stretched the finances of parents.
He said since the content of the syllabi was not being perused but duration, the retention of the three year period with sound teacher motivation and other resources would reverse the falling standards and place the nation at the threshold of socio-economic advancement.
Togbega said all things being equal, a four-year duration for the SHS without corresponding infrastructure, remuneration, motivation and availability of equipment would be meaningless, and further jeopardize the overburdened financial situation of teachers and parents.
The Paramount Chief suggested that pupils and students of basic schools be made to wear the same uniform, which would be differentiated only by logos, crests or badges.