Fianko SMC ask to assist poor parents to register their children

Awutu-Fianko (C/R), June 16, GNA - The Bawjiase Area Manager of Plan Ghana, a nongovernmental organisation, Mrs Emilia Allan on Monday appealed to the executives of Awutu-Fianko School Management Committee (SMC) to loan some of their funds to parents, who were unable to pay their children's registration fees.

She, however, asked the Executives to see to it that such loans were refunded after a period so that others could also benefit from the resources when the need arose.

Mrs Allan made the appeal after the Headmaster of the Awutu-Fianko Junior Secondary School (JSS), Mr Charles Degbor had told a stakeholders meeting at Awutu-Fianko that some of the pupils who made it to JSS three, dropout of school because they were unable to pay their registration fees.

The meeting was organised by the Effutu-Awutu-Senya District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to see how best the enrolment and performance of the school could be improved. The total pupils population of the JSS is 32, made up of 18 boys and 14 girls and the best aggregate for the school in 2003 was aggregate 30. Only one girl from the school took part in the 2004 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

Mrs Allan expressed regret that despite so many interventions the NGO had offered to the community, the performance of children was still not up to expectation.

The NGO had among other things, constructed a block of six classrooms for the primary school and a library stocked with teaching and learning materials, she said.

It was observed at the meeting that absenteeism on the part of pupils, parents inability to provide educational materials, and pay children's school fees were some of the major contributory factors affecting the performance of pupils.