Mr Yakubu Fuseini Batong, the Sissalla East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) has bemoaned the low performance of the BECE and WASSCE in the Sissala East Municipality despite sustained interventions in the education sector.
Mr Batong said the performance of the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results were disturbing and called on all education stakeholders to work harder to reverse the trend.
He explained that the BECE results for 2021 saw a decrease in performance from 44 per cent in 2020 to 24 per cent in 2021, whilst the WASSCE results from Tumu Senior High Technical School also saw a decrease from 28.9 per cent in 2020 to 20.7 per cent in 2021.
Mr Batong expressed the concern in Tumu during the 66th Independence Day celebration where school children and voluntary organizations marched to observe the day under the theme: “Our Unity Our Strength, Our Purpose.”
Mr Batong enumerated 10 educational infrastructural projects being carried out, including the construction of four 3-Unit classroom blocks with ancillary facilities in Dimajang, Sentie, the Tumu Midwifery and, Gbenebisi.
He also mentioned the provision of dual desk to selected schools, the construction of KG block at Kowie, maintenance of the Ghana Education Office and rehabilitating teacher’s Quarters at Nabulo, among others.
However, it is disheartening to note that despite these government investments, parents, and teachers’ contributions towards developing children, their performance is still below average, and this must change, he said.
Mr Batong appealed to parents to take advantage of the interventions in the infrastructure and make sure that no child within the school-going age was left behind.
The MCE said as part of the effort to change the trend, the Municipal Education Oversight Committee was instituting measures to reverse the poor academic performance with the writing of two Municipal wide Mock Examinations and organizing seminars for BECE candidates whilst reading competitions at the lower primary had also been introduced to improve academic performance.
The MCE appealed to the public to make it an individual policy to clean their frontages both at home and at the workplace.
The MCE urged parents to be responsible in providing the basic needs of the girl child as the canker of elopement of school girls and teenage pregnancy was bedeviling the Municipality.
Ten public and seven private schools, Tricycles riders, GNAT LAS ladies, NAGRAT, Tailors, Boys and Girls Cadets and Camfed ladies participated in the marching, which was reviewed by Inspector Erebung Lieta Bismarck of the Ghana Police Service who was assisted by Cadet Major Engineer Samuel Osei Asare, Northern Sector Cadet Corps of the National Cadet Corps Ghana.
GNA