From Ernest Best Anane
Mr. Alex Kyeremeh, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Pre-tertiary, has stated that records have shown that the Ashanti Region has done tremendously well in terms of girl child education over the years, as compared to other regions against the number of boys and girls of school going age in the country.
He said the number of boys who are writing this year’s WASSCE is 31,287, while the girls are 30,838, which, he said, demonstrates that the gap between the education of boys and girls is closing and encouraging in terms of improvement of girl child education in the Ashanti Region.
The Minister revealed this when he was accompanied by Mrs. Mary Owusu Achiaw, the Regional Director of Education, and some officials from the directorate to visit some schools in the region to ascertain how the students, who are writing this year’s WASSCE, are making it.
Some of the schools visited included Prempeh College, Yaa Asantewaa SHS, Mankranso SHS, Osei Tutu SHS at Akropong, Tepa SHS and Mabang Senior High Technical School. According to him, about 274,255 are writing this year’s WASSCE, representing an increase of 5,484 candidates over the 2015 figure of 268,771 candidates, representing 2.04%, as the total number of schools are 897 with a total number of 667 centers.
He indicated that the number of candidates in the Ashanti Region alone is 62,125, which represents a decrease of 353 over the 2015 figure of 62,472, representing a decrease of 0.56%. The Deputy Minister also revealed that the Ashanti Region has 132 schools and 177 centers in 29 districts.
He also entreated the authorities to put measures in place to prevent malpractices, saying we need to safeguard the integrity of our country when it comes to examinations in the West African sub-region.
The Minister also told the authorities not to prevent any female student who, unfortunately, is pregnant, but encourage them to abstain from pre-marital sex, considering the challenges it may have on their education and career, but also encourage them to write the exams which could help them continue their education after delivery.
Mr. Kwasi Adusei, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano North constituency, who was part of the entourage, also encouraged the students to comport themselves in the exams, to enable them excel to secure a better future for themselves.
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