Sissila West wails over declining BECE performance

In an attempt to identify and remedy the causes of the declining academic performance of Junior High School pupils in his constituency, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sissala West, Mr. Haruna Bayirga, has recently interacted with heads of the affected schools in the area, and staff of the District Directorate of Ghana Education Service (GES), at Gwollu.

The area recorded 57.5% pass in 2005/6 academic year in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), but in 2006/7, it declined to 55.13%, then to 47.8% in 2007/8, with the recent result being 42.1%.

A shortage of teachers, indiscipline among pupils, the general lack of interest in learning, especially outside school hours, the failure of most parents to motivate their pupils to learn, and the poor foundation of learning at the primary school level, coupled with mass promotions to the JHS, were identified as some the primary causes.

It was observed that pupils in the district did not have the opportunity to try their hands on printed examination questions, and thus become nervous when given WAEC BECE printed questions.

The educationists noted that the lack of computers in the schools, in this era of Information Communication Technology (ICT), was also affecting teaching and learning in general, and the subject in particular.

Mr. Bayirga entreated parents in his constituency to ensure that their children apportioned their time judiciously, to enable them have, not only enough, but also quality time, for their personal academic studies.

“Regulate the time that the children spend watching TV and playing,” he said, noting, “one of our divine duties is to bring up our children very well.” Underscoring the importance of teachers, Mr. Bayirga stated that without teachers, there was no society, and promised that the government's incentives for rural teachers would be approved by parliament without delay, whenever the issue was brought before the floor.

He said it was not time to apportion blame for the poor academic performance in the area, but urge all stakeholders to play their roles to ensure quality education for our future leaders, which to him was a fundamental human right.

He was shocked to learn that the district had not been sponsoring teachers to the teacher training colleges, and assured them that he would take the issue up with the new District Chief Executive, Mr. Robert Baka.

The District Director of Education, Mr. Mahama Iddrisu, promised to regularly move out with his staff to help in the classrooms, while intensifying supervision. He observed that earlier interventions by most stakeholders, targeted enrolment but not quality, which actually yielded positive results, as enrolment at the basic level in the district, which stood at 8,000 in 2005, doubled in 2009.

He lamented that teachers leaving his district were more than those who come in, indicating that against 30 teachers that left the district, only 11 came in this academic year.

The situation, he said, would be worse in the near future, if the district assembly did not reconsider sponsoring teachers to the colleges.

To ensure effective and smooth running of the School Feeding Programme, Mr. Iddrisu suggested that the programme be handled by GES and not the district assemblies, complaining that some workers under the programme had no regard for GES staff, because the former were appointed by the district assembly and not the GES.

He did not see the difference between the feeding at the boarding SHS, which was being handled by headmasters and the School Feeding Programme. He regretted that monies that used to come to the GES for in-service trainings, monitoring and supervision among others, were channeled through the district assemblies, and saying, the “GES is not given these monies.”

The District Director called on influential persons in the district, to desist from interfering whenever disciplinary actions were to taken against offending teachers. On his part, Mr. Edmond Sibiri, the Research Assistant to the MP, bemoaned the rate at which the distance learning programme was draining the pockets of teachers. He observed the situation acted as a disincentive to the teachers, with pupils usually suffering the consequences.

The headteachers thanked the MP for such a fruitful interaction, and pledged to show more commitment, initiate extra tuition for candidates, seek for volunteer teachers to help, conduct regular quizzes, debates, and other forms of competitive learning among others, to arrest the situation.