The Gyasehene of Gomoa Wassa in the Central Region, Nana Francis Essel Okyeahene, has called on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reduce the number of subjects written at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The traditional ruler, who is also an educationist, said the current 10/11 subjects were just too many for junior high school students, and asking them to write all those subjects within a week during the BECE made things more difficult for them.

He thus underscored the need to reduce the number to about five, with some emphasis on practicals since the theory was too much.

“Our system has become chew, pour and pass, and this is not helpful,” he emphasised after receiving the Excellence in Leadership and Quality Basic Education award at the Ghana Academia Summit and Awards.

Nana Francis Essel Okyeahene believed the foundational years of the country’s education system had broken and indicated that compelling pupils to handle up to 10 subjects was unreasonable—especially when tertiary students with mature brains generally handle fewer than six.

The subject overload, he said, combined with the pressure of cramming all papers into a single week, was the primary reason why so many candidates failed the BECE.

Nana Okyeahene, who also serves as the Director of the Onua Francis School, stressed the need for a shift towards practical, skills-based learning to curb the nation's rising graduate unemployment crisis.

Meanwhile, the Team Lead for the Ghana Academia Awards, Ernest Lartey, appealed to President John Dramani Mahama and the Minister of Education to aggressively invest in rural school infrastructure.

He said closing the resource gap between rural and urban schools was critical to giving all Ghanaian children an equal playing field and keeping youth out of social vices.