By Albert Futukpor, GNA
Tamale, Dec. 14, GNA - Statistics from the Ghana Education Service has shown consistent poor performance by pupils at the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) level at the Sagnarigu Municipality despite the area being blessed with most of the best schools in the Northern Region.
The poor performance at the BECE level has seen the Municipality being rated poor amongst other Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the region as it placed ninth out of the 26 MMDAs in the region and 125th out of the 216 MMDAs in the country during the 2017 BECE.
A total of 4,097 pupils sat for the 2017 BECE in the Municipality out of which 1,852 representing 45.2 per cent passed whiles 2,245 representing 54.8 per cent failed.
In 2016, a total of 3,863 pupils sat for the BECE in the area out of which 1,640 representing 42.45 per cent passed whiles 2,223 representing 57.55 per cent failed.
The situation was not different in 2015 either where out of a total of 3,828 pupils, who sat for the BECE in the area, only 1,572 representing 41.07 per cent passed whiles 2,256 representing 58.93 per cent failed.
A school by school BECE analysis showed that the first 10 schools in terms of performance in the Municipality were dominated by private schools, whiles some schools in the area still scored zero per cent in the BECE.
These were presented at a forum in Tamale attended by members of school management committees, parent-teacher associations, youth groups, and civil society organizations to discuss the BECE performance in the Sagnarigu Municipality for the past five years.
The forum was organized by the Centre for Active Learning and Integrated Development (CALID) as part of its Citizen Empowerment for Transparent and Accountable Quality Education project with funding support from OXFAM.
Participants identified teacher absenteeism, poor supervision, mass promotion of pupils to new classes, lack of resources to conduct mock examinations, and parental neglect of responsibilities towards education of their children as reasons for the consistent poor performance of pupils in the area.
They proposed that Municipal Education Oversight Committee be strengthened to function effectively, in-service training for teachers to sharpen their skills, organization of inter-schools competitions amongst others to reverse the trend.
Alhaji Mohammed Haroun, Northern Regional Director of Education, who was represented at the forum, said recommendations for improving the situation at the Assembly would be implemented to improve education outcome in the area.
Mr Mohammed Alidu, Chairman, Education Sub-committee, Sagnarigu Municipality, said the issue of poor performance of pupils at the BECE level at the Assembly would be tabled for discussion at the assembly level to find lasting solution to the situation.
Mr Mohammed Awal Sumani Bapio, Executive Director of CALID, called for increased financing and investment in education, monitoring and supervision to ensure improved performance of pupils in the region.
GNA
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