General
According to retired Public Works Department staff, Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang the controversial practice of securing school places through connections existed decades before today’s arguments over “protocol admissions
Related Content
The battle for a place in a prestigious school is nothing new.
According to retired Public Works Department staff, Lawrence Frederick Asiamah Tenkorang the controversial practice of securing school places through connections existed decades before today’s arguments over “protocol admissions”.
The retired public officer was recalling his own experience of Ghana’s education system in the 1940s and 1950s when he made the startling revelation.
“I took Achimota, first choice. Mfantsipim second choice and Prempeh third choice College. You know these three were protocol even back then,” he told Kafui Dey.
He was referring to the schools he selected after sitting the common entrance examination for secondary education.
But he explained that popular schools could effectively be filled before students even sat the examination.
“When the exams were not held then they are filled up before the examination,” he said.
In other words, according to his recollection, places at sought-after schools could already be spoken for before the formal selection process began.
Then came the line that could resonate strongly with today’s parents and students:
“So protocol was happening even back then in the 40s and 50s.”
Engineer Tenkorang, however, stressed that the practice was not as widespread as he believes it is today.
“Protocol, I would say, it wasn’t so high but it was there somehow,” he said.
His own story was different.
He said he came from a very poor family and sat the common entrance examination himself.
He passed.
When it came time to select schools, he chose Achimota as his first choice.
But he did not have someone behind the scenes helping him navigate the system.
“I didn’t get anybody to help me,” he recalled.
He later realized that he could have approached his choices differently.
His story provides an intriguing historical link between today’s debates about privilege in education and the experiences of students more than 70 years ago.
The education system has certainly evolved. But Engineer Tenkorang’s recollection suggests one thing has remained remarkably familiar:
getting into a top school has never been only about passing an examination.
Sometimes, he says, it was also about who you knew.
More Stories
