Former Dean at Academic City University College, Prof. Enoch Opoku Antwi, has called for the abolition of the protocol system in Ghana’s school admissions, arguing that it undermines merit, discourages hard work, and compromises fairness in the placement process.
In a conversation on The Career Trail program on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, he raised concerns about reports of parents allegedly paying money to secure school placements for their children, describing the situation as unacceptable.
“One of the biggest problems is the placement of our schools. Some students still do not have placement, and I have been told that some people have been paying money. Why should you pay money to go to school in your own country?” he questioned.
He said such practices place an unnecessary burden on families and create the impression that opportunities are reserved for those with money or influence.
“When you finish school and you are looking for a job, some people also have to pay money to get employment. Why are we doing this to ourselves? We should make life easy for our own people,” he stated.
Prof. Antwi said beyond the reported payments, the protocol admission system itself requires urgent review because it discourages genuine learning.
“I think we should also look at the protocol system. It discourages learning,” he said.
Explaining his concern, he argued that students who perform better academically can lose admission opportunities to applicants admitted through protocol.
“Why should somebody get six aggregate and another person get 35, and they both gain admission because somebody came through protocol? If I know I have protocol, then I’m not encouraged to learn because I’ll get in anyway,” he explained.
He contrasted the practice with admission processes in more advanced educational systems, where he said applicants are expected to meet the same requirements regardless of their background or family connections.
“In the advanced world, you cannot say this is Obama’s daughter, so we are admitting her if she has not met the requirements. She will not be allowed,” he noted.
Prof. Antwi therefore urged policymakers to review and eventually scrap the protocol admission system, insisting that admissions should be based on merit to promote fairness and motivate students to work hard.
“We have to look at the protocol system and see how we can scrap it so that it will be fair for everybody in the way we admit students,” he concluded.
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