General News of Monday, 19 March 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-03-19
Basic school pupils sitting for Basic Education Certificate Exams
An Educationist and Head of the Finance Department of the University of Cape Coast, Professor John Gatsi, has expressed concern over the continuous abysmal performance of pupils in public schools in the Basic Education Certificate Examination.
Prof Gatsi observed that public basic school pupils perform poorly compared to their counterparts in the private schools during the standard assessment examinations.
Professor Gatsi was speaking at the 9th John Gatsi Educational Foundation Excellence Awards ceremony at Dzodze in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta Region.
The establishment of the excellence award for pupils at the Junior High Schools in the Ketu North Municipality is to motivate teachers and students in order to create a congenial and competitive learning environment in the district.
More than 500 teachers in the district have over the years been engaged in in-service training by the Foundation in the areas of Mathematics, Integrated Science and English Language.
In all, a total of 16 pupils were honoured for their excellent performance in the 2017 John Gatsi Educational Foundation examinations.
Out of this number, 12 awardees came from the private schools in the district with one particular private school sweeping five awards including the Overall Best Pupil and the Overall Best Female awards which respectively went to John Mensah and Evelyn Delali Kumah, all from the Vehem Mawunyo International School at Dzodze.
Speaking at the well-attended ceremony, Founder of the Foundation, Professor John Gatsi, said it was unfortunate that public basic schools continue to lag behind their counterparts in the private sector in spite of all the comparative advantage public schools have over private educational institutions.
He attributed the difference in performance to commitment and effective supervision in private basic schools and stressed the need for stakeholders to help turn around the dwindling fortunes of performance in the public basic schools.
Paramount Chief of the Dzodze Traditional Area, Torgbui Adzofia IV stressed the need for the Ghana Education Service (GES) to intensify effective supervision and monitoring of its schools in order to stem the abysmal performance of pupils in public schools.
He also called for improved remuneration and conditions of service for teachers to enable them fall off their best to their pupils and schools.
The overall best pupil, as well as the best female student in the 2017 examination, went home with GHS1,000 each, a certificate and some assorted books.
The rest of the awardees also received certificates and assorted reading books.
The best female pupil in the examination, Evelyn Delali Kumah later shared her impressions in an interview with Joy News
She described the award of very motivating for her, adding that her aim is to get 9 ones in the forthcoming 2018 Basic Education Certificate Examination.