Over 169 students in some basic schools at Larteh in the Akuapem North Municipality of the Eastern Region have been educated on practical ways to answer questions in examinations.
The move is to ensure that the students achieve excellent results in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
According to ‘AS I GROW’ a non-governmental organization who are the organizers of the program, the students’ performance in Larteh and its environs in BECE have not been encouraging over the years hence the initiative to prepare the students well to aid them to answer examination questions.
The program dubbed “My Career Campaign” was carried out in collaboration with some BECE examiners and selected students from different schools in Larteh and its environs.
In all, 169 students from the Methodist, Anglican, Roman, Presbyterian schools who benefited from the program were taken through 5 hours of intensive lessons on how to answer questions.
Addressing the media, Mr Issac Debrah Bekoe, CEO of the organization called on government and other stakeholders to support education in rural areas.
“Our vision is to ensure that the health, educational and general well-being of rural communities in the country develop. Most children are unable to pass the BECE not because they do not know the answers to the question, but rather how to answer it the way the examiners require.”
“We delved into the exams results of Akupem North and realised that the kids are not performing. We did some surveillance and saw that it wasn’t coming from the teachers but we saw that it is how the students go about the question. So we spoke to WAEC examiners and they agreed to help us coach the kids on how to go about answering questions”.
He added, “Per our mandate as an organization, we realised that my career campaign should be redirected in solving the problem so that at the end the children can pass and pass well. If students are able to go through the educational system well, many social vices that we see today would be curbed.”
Passion for the job
Mr Richard Oppong Asante an examiner for over 15 years who commended the organizers of the program called on newly trained teachers to develop passion for teaching.
“If this program had started earlier, it would have helped so many past students. I will appeal to the government to also do its part to support students in rural communities”.
“It’s sad to know that some teachers who are in the teaching profession are just in only to make ends meet because of the current unemployment rate in the country.
“Majority of the teachers we have in our schools are just in the profession because they are unemployed and are finding it difficult to get a job because of the current situation we have in the country. These crop of teachers do not have any passion for the job and this situation affects students performance because most of these teachers have not been taken through how to teach some subjects for students to understand well”.
“They think they have done statistics so they can teach maths, but that’s not how it is. You need to know how to deliver the subject for students to understand. So we are calling on the government and stakeholders in the educational cycle to take a relook at Ghana’s educational system”.
Parents should complement teachers
Mr. Manford Obeng, Assembly member of the area who was very appreciative of the initiative also called on parents to assist efforts of teachers.
“I have observed that parents do not force their wards to study like it used to be sometime back. You will find school children loitering around even at night when they have to be learning or doing their homework. This activity will not help them to be responsible adults in future so I’m pleading with parents to take charge of their wards, be a little responsible to ensure they stay out of the streets at night and concentrate on their studies.”
He thanked the NGO for the good work and stated that the community would also ensure it finds a solution to students performances in the area.
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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku | citinewsroom.com | niikanarku@gmail.com
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