Stories from Samuel Agbewode
The continuous poor academic performance of schools in the Volta Region, particularly, basic schools, is being considered by various stakeholders and development partners as an area that needs urgent attention to reverse the trend as the ultimate means of promoting rapid development in the region.
As a result, stakeholders of education have been strategising through various fora to find a lasting solution to the problem.
The latest of such platforms to deliberate on how to promotion education in the region was a regional education advocacy forum held in Ho to discuss a project called Partnership for Accountable Governance in Education (PAGE).
It was jointly organised by a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Care International, and the Volta Region Directorate of Education, which is being implemented in five districts of the region.
The forum, themed: “Achieving the Goal of Quality Education Together, the Role of the Local Stakeholders”, was attended by stakeholders in the region, including district directors of education, parents, and students, principals of Teacher Colleges of Education, and circuit supervisors.
Briefing the gathering about the seriousness of the poor academic performance of pupils and students in the region, the Acting Regional Head, Planning and Statistics at the Regional Education Office, Mr. Bright K. Dey, who exposed the educational problem, stressed the need for stakeholders to take the issue more seriously.
Mr. Dey said the poor academic situation in the region still existed, and if the necessary measures were not taken to deal with the situation, it would get out of hand, because the number of schools scoring zero percent at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) on a yearly basis was on the increase.
He disclosed that basic schools in the region scored 27 percent at the BECE in 2012. This, he said, ought to be considered as disastrous for the region, and that not until all the stakeholders reasoned to actively play their roles, the result would be worse than the current.
Mr. Dey pointed out that research conducted by his outfit clearly showed that the poor academic performance at the BECE in the region would reduce from 27 to a lower percentage if efforts were made immediately to improve teaching and learning at the lower and upper primary levels of education.
According to Mr. Dey, pupils at the lower and upper primary continue to perform badly in numeracy, and that the competency of children at this level of education had fallen drastically, and that these pupils were now at the Junior High School, and would be writing the BECE in 2013.
Mr. Dey noted that one of the greatest challenges confronting education in the region was the poor teaching methods of teachers, particularly, the newly trained teachers, and appealed to the management of teacher training institutions to examine the type training being offered and review it to enable the products perform satisfactorily.
The Acting Volta Regional Head of Planning and Statistics buttressed his point and said as a result of poor teaching methods some parents preferred taking their wards from government schools.
The Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr. Emmanuel Keteku, stressed the importance of stakeholders in showing greater commitment to educational activities that would help reverse the poor performance of schools in the region.
The National Programme Officer of the PAGE project, Madam Leticia Effah, pointed out that five districts in the Volta Region were benefitting from the PAGE programme, which included the training of circuit supervisors, because her outfit had identified poor supervision in schools as a contributing factor to the poor performances across the country.