The education directorate of the Prestea Huni- Valley Municipal on Friday 28th August 2020 organized a performance appraisal meeting at Bogoso for all its stakeholders. The meeting was graced by dignitaries like the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Chief Executive, Dr. Isaac Dasmani, Municipal Education Director, representatives from the Christian, Muslim and traditional council.
The Municipal Chief Executive of Prestea Huni-Valley, Dr. Isaac Dasmani during his speech raised concerns about students who are unable to pass their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE. He spelt out his plans for such students, plans like teaching such students some vocational and planning skills. He promised to build new school buildings to replace those in poor conditions.
He mentioned some major problems which has brought about truancy among children of school going age. Some of these problems are galamsey, poor or lack of parental control. Dr. Dasmani pleaded with parents to take good care of their children and also promised to put measures in place to curb the problems identified.
The Municipal Education Director, Madam Mary Vida Kwofie stated clearly the benefit of the event. She said by assessing the performance of students in the Municipal, the weaknesses and strength are revealed and this serves as an avenue for corrections and improvement and also helps students and teachers to avoid repeating previous mistakes.
One problem identified was that the number of all students at age 4(net enrollment) enrolled in Kindergarten in the Municipal is lower than all children above 4 years (Gross enrollment) enrolled in Kindergarten, which is supposed to be opposite of it. This also shows that the public lack knowledge on the school going age for kindergarten children and so need to be enlightened. She also identified that most children do not begin schooling early and this has an influence in the rise in teenage pregnancy and children engaging in galamsey. The programme she again said was an avenue for the education directorate to share with its stakeholders its problems and also seek solutions to them.
Speaking at the meeting, chief of Amoanda, Nana Kofi II complained about the poor performances of students in the public compared to their counterparts in the private schools. He challenged students, parents and teachers in the public schools to work collectively to identify the causes of the poor performances among their students so as to improve upon it.
He also mentioned some factors he considered as hindrances to good academic performances in schools located in the rural area, some of which are poverty, illegal mining (Galamsey), poor parental control and lack of motivation among teachers.
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By Matilda Ansah and Ama Semuah Asane
