By Benjamin Teye Larweh, The Nobi Boy In 1995, I completed my basic education at Samlesi Amanga L/A JSS with an aggregate of 08. At the time, it was a remarkable achievement. My result was reportedly the best among the surrounding villages and towns. What makes the achievement even more significant to me is that it took almost 30 years before another student from the area could break that record. But there is another side to that story. Despite obtaining an aggregate of 08, I was refused admission to Pope John’s Secondary School, the school I had hoped to attend. Looking back three decades later, I have come to appreciate that my experience was not merely about one boy missing out on one school. It was a reflection of a much bigger problem in Ghana’s education system: we have often expected children from vastly unequal circumstances to compete as though they started from the same position. They do not. I DID NOT STUDY UNDER THE SAME CONDITIONS Throughout my basic education, there ...