Akyem Swedru Zongo; JHS Pupils Reject Schooling For Trading

Information gathered indicate that basic school going pupils of Akim Swedru Zongo in the Birim South District of the Eastern Region prefer trading to schooling, a situation which is affecting the performance of the only public school in the community Akim Swedru Nuriya Islamic Basic School.

The situation worsens when the pupils get to JHS 3 and are registered for the Basic School Certificate Examination (BECE).

Mr. Prince A D Torto, the headmaster of the school who confirmed this to media men said, the school authorities are putting measures in place to curb the menace. According Mr. Torto. The school has been engaging opinion leaders of the Zongo community and the parents to advice and sometimes sack their wards to school when they refuse to go to school.

He also added that the Parent Teacher Association have enact rules and regulations and have also made the parents and the wards to sign an undertaken to compel the pupils to go to school for which copies of the said rules and regulations have been sent to the District Education office, the school has also kept copies and the parents/pupils have also been given copies.

Mr. Torto said these have not changed the situation completely but has decreased the menace. “We will continue to engage the parents and plead with them to force their wards to come to the school” he said.

Meanwhile performance of the school has been increasing steadily and Mr. Torto believes when the menace is curbed to an appreciable extent, it will drastically increase the performance of the school.

The school had a total of 57% pass in the 2013/2014 academic year BECE where 9 candidates were registered for the exams, however, in the 2014/2015 academic year, the school presented 56 candidates and had an appreciable 96.4 percentage pass.