Mr. Daniel Fenyi, the Public Relations Officer for the Ghana Education Service (GES), has sparked a critical national conversation after calling on the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to investigate the high number of First Class honours awarded by the country's Colleges of Education (CoEs).
In a social media post that has since gone viral, Mr. Fenyi presented a startling statistical comparison between the graduating classes of a traditional university and a College of Education, each with a total of 485 graduates.
The figures he shared painted a starkly different picture of academic achievement:
University Graduation
First Class: 9
Second Upper: 180
Second Lower: 208
Third Class: 63
Pass: 27
Total: 485
College of Education Graduation
First Class: 122
Second Upper: 195
Second Lower: 143
Third Class: 23
Pass: 8
Total: 485
Based on this data, a staggering 25% of the College of Education graduates achieved First Class honours, compared to a mere 1.8% from the university. This significant disparity prompted Mr. Fenyi to directly challenge the regulatory body.
"Dear GTEC, when you're done chasing fake Drs and Profs", turn your attention to the Colleges of Education," he wrote. "The way they churn out first class in droves beats every known standard phenomenon on assessment. They have to teach us."
The post immediately drew intense debate from educators, students, and the general public, with opinions sharply divided.
One commenter, Omar D'Poet, defended the CoE students, attributing their success to a more disciplined and focused academic environment. He argued, "The seriousness of student in the COEs is better than the lavish lifestyle of most Uni students. Students in COE who is sometimes engaged in weeding, scrubbing to keep their cubicle and campus clean often makes good use of anytime they get as compared to the Uni students who have 100% freedom with less training."
He also made a crucial point that the CoEs are mentored and supervised by the same universities, suggesting that the standards are, in fact, university-approved. "Don't forget, it's the same universities that mentor and supervise the award of degrees to the CoEs," he noted.
However, other commentators questioned the academic rigour of the CoE curriculum. A user named Sandy Bridge argued that the comparison was unfair because the subject matter is less complex. "Most of them are learning lower primary stuff, how can you compare such content with those going to teach in SHS?" she countered, later adding sarcastically, "they are going to teach twinkle twinkle little stars, why won't they weed?"
This debate highlights a growing concern about grade inflation and the standardization of academic assessment across Ghana's tertiary institutions. While Colleges of Education have successfully transitioned into degree-awarding institutions, Mr. Fenyi's post raises pertinent questions about whether the assessment metrics have been harmonized with those of traditional universities.
As the discussion rages on, the call is now on GTEC to address these concerns to ensure that the value and integrity of a First Class degree, regardless of the issuing institution, remain unimpeachable. The credibility of Ghana's entire tertiary education system depends on it.
