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U/W Region: Underperforming of girls in BECE alarming – GES

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Over the past six (6) years, the Upper West Region has continually fallen among the lowest scoring regions in the annual BECE.

In 2018 for instance, only 34 percent of children who sat for the BECE in 2018 passed.

This translates into just about 4,174 out of a total of 12,225 students who sat for the examination. 

Even more worrying is the fact that the pass rate among girls in the Upper West Region is low.

According to the Ghana Education Service (GES), only about 26 percent (1573 girls)  of girls passed their 2018 BECE as against the 41 percent (2601 boys) recorded by the boys.

An Exam Officer with the Upper West Regional Department of Education, Abu Salifu shared these statistics at a forum organized by the Ghana Youth Federation at Wa.

Exam Officer, GES, Abu Salifu

The one day forum organized by the Ghana Youth Federation was hinged on “Accountability; The Bedrock of Our Educational Development”.

It brought together youth representatives from all 11 municipals and districts in the region to tease out ideas from the youth and other stakeholders in education on how to restructure and raise the falling standard of education in the Upper West Region.

The Exam Officer with GES, Salifu said “it [the statistics] is a wake-up call to us [GES] as policy implementers”.

Mr. Salifu expressed worry about the development in his addressed as he quizzed participants of the forum whether it was “the teachers that are not teaching or the children are not learning”.

He shared his experience as a student when he recalled that in his day “there were no lights but we were able to pass our exam”. 

Mr. Salifu was quick to mention that the trend is however, different today as although children have more educational materials like the internet and smart phones at their reach, they continue to abuse it to the detriment of their education.

The Exam Officer reminded teachers of the duty to help parents shape the lives of children to become better, well-resourced individuals in the future.

The Acting Upper West Regional Director of the Youth Authority (NYA) Archibald Donkor re-emphasized the need for well-structured education.

Ag Upper West Regional Director, Youth Authority, Archibald Donkor

He said “it is through education that countries have experienced development”. He added that the comprehensive development of education means that stakeholders like government, parents, development partners, religious and traditional leaders and corporate entities must be active and live up to their dedicated roles.

The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister Amidu Issahaku Chinnia in his address mentioned that he was a teacher by profession who had taught for the most part of his adult life.

Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Amidu Issahaku Chinnia

Mr. Issahaku Chinnia said it was unfortunate that “a lot of teachers do not recognize the fact that what you do to the children especially at the basic school level determines their future.

He added that teachers need to understand that “the children from crèche up to JHS and even sometimes SHS do not know what life is about” thus it is the preserve of the teacher to be able to shape lives of students to become model citizens.

Mr. Chinnia said the theme for the program was apt as   “it is when people see that they are accountable in the outcome of education or educational development is the only time we [the country] can have improvement [in the educational sector]”.

The Deputy Regional Minister agreed that if quality of education would be improved, first the onus lies on government to create the right atmosphere through the provision of infrastructure, better remuneration of teachers among others.

Mr. Chinnia added that although teacher reserved the right to agitate for pay raises, they must do “a comprehensive cost analysis” to see whether they even merit the pay they take now. He said it is a fact that some teachers are “lazy and refused to go to the classrooms to teach”.

A tutor from the Northern Star SHS in the Wa Municipality, Ruth Kuumane said some of the current educational policies “are not helping the teachers” thus the need to review them to enable teachers have more influence over the students they handle.

Tutor at Northern Star SHS, Ruth Kuumane

She cited an example where pregnant girls can still continue to go to school when they are pregnant “provided that they are not feeling shy”.

She explained that this is an arduous tasks for both the student and the teachers teaching her as the first trimester of pregnancy particularly for first time pregnant women is extremely difficult therefore the added stress of attending classes might have some effects on both mother and  child.

Youth Advocate, Dawud Gomina

Another youth representative from Tumu, Dawud Gomina was unhappy that some NGOs and CSOs only educate students on their rights and not their responsibilities.

He said this creates an imbalance as the children are aware of their rights and demand for it but have no knowledge of their responsibilities as students.

Participants

Story by Mark Smith

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