Pupils of the Sota DA Basic School in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region have abandoned the school because it is not on the school feeding programme.
According to the headmaster, Mr. Emmanuel Tetteh Mensah, some of the pupils have left for other schools in the district enjoying from the programme, in spite of the distance involved and “enrolment has consequently been reduced and has become a bother to the staff”.
Mr. Mensah made this known last Wednesday when the Deputy Minister of Education, Mahama Ayariga paid a working visit to the district, to assess and obtain first hand information on the condition of schools in the area.
He has therefore, appealed to the authorities to ensure that the school is placed on the feeding programme to boost the interest of the pupils to enrol next academic year.
Noting some of the challenges encountered in the school, Mr. Tetteh said most of the pupils reported to school late due to the non-availability of water in the community.
“Because there is no water in the community, most pupils go to search for water in the morning before reporting to school and this result in their coming to school late, everyday,” he lamented.
Mr. Tengey Richard Quist, a JHS teacher, bemoaned the disinterest of the pupils in studying, which according to him affects the performance of the school at the Basic Education Certificate Examination, in succeeding years.
This situation, he said, had arisen because most of the pupils were taking care of themselves, and are therefore always on the run to engage in economic activities which will fetch them money, to the extent that “even when we organise free tuition for them, they do not patronise it”.
At the Dodowa Presbyterian Basic ‘Two’ School, the headmaster, Mr Charles Odoom, pointed out that some of the teachers have to shuttle between their schools and places like Madina, Adenta and Legon because of lack of accommodation in the district, and as such some of them and even the pupils arrive in their various schools late and tired.
“At the close of day, they are in a hurry to catch a bus to their various places of abode and therefore having little or no time to interact with the pupils after classes,” he added.
Mrs. Joyce Brenya, a Class Three teacher, touched on the inadequacy of English text books, and said the situation makes the teaching of English Language quite difficult.
The Deputy Minister, Mr Ayariga assured her that the issue will be resolved soon.
He advocated the extension of contact hours from five to seven hours to help the teachers interact more with the students.
“I believe this can help to boost the academic performance of most of the students,” he intimated.
A Deputy Director Education, Mrs Bernice Bamfo recounting some of the situations which have led to the poor performance of some of the schools in the district, pointed at the “Whole sale promotion” which saw all pupils being promoted to the next class without considering their academic performance, as a contributory factor.
She was of the view that, if the pupils knew that they will be repeated if they failed at the end of the academic year, then they could sit up.
“That, I believe can help to increase the number of schools which pass in the district,” she added.
According to the headmaster, Mr. Emmanuel Tetteh Mensah, some of the pupils have left for other schools in the district enjoying from the programme, in spite of the distance involved and “enrolment has consequently been reduced and has become a bother to the staff”.
Mr. Mensah made this known last Wednesday when the Deputy Minister of Education, Mahama Ayariga paid a working visit to the district, to assess and obtain first hand information on the condition of schools in the area.
He has therefore, appealed to the authorities to ensure that the school is placed on the feeding programme to boost the interest of the pupils to enrol next academic year.
Noting some of the challenges encountered in the school, Mr. Tetteh said most of the pupils reported to school late due to the non-availability of water in the community.
“Because there is no water in the community, most pupils go to search for water in the morning before reporting to school and this result in their coming to school late, everyday,” he lamented.
Mr. Tengey Richard Quist, a JHS teacher, bemoaned the disinterest of the pupils in studying, which according to him affects the performance of the school at the Basic Education Certificate Examination, in succeeding years.
This situation, he said, had arisen because most of the pupils were taking care of themselves, and are therefore always on the run to engage in economic activities which will fetch them money, to the extent that “even when we organise free tuition for them, they do not patronise it”.
At the Dodowa Presbyterian Basic ‘Two’ School, the headmaster, Mr Charles Odoom, pointed out that some of the teachers have to shuttle between their schools and places like Madina, Adenta and Legon because of lack of accommodation in the district, and as such some of them and even the pupils arrive in their various schools late and tired.
“At the close of day, they are in a hurry to catch a bus to their various places of abode and therefore having little or no time to interact with the pupils after classes,” he added.
Mrs. Joyce Brenya, a Class Three teacher, touched on the inadequacy of English text books, and said the situation makes the teaching of English Language quite difficult.
The Deputy Minister, Mr Ayariga assured her that the issue will be resolved soon.
He advocated the extension of contact hours from five to seven hours to help the teachers interact more with the students.
“I believe this can help to boost the academic performance of most of the students,” he intimated.
A Deputy Director Education, Mrs Bernice Bamfo recounting some of the situations which have led to the poor performance of some of the schools in the district, pointed at the “Whole sale promotion” which saw all pupils being promoted to the next class without considering their academic performance, as a contributory factor.
She was of the view that, if the pupils knew that they will be repeated if they failed at the end of the academic year, then they could sit up.
“That, I believe can help to increase the number of schools which pass in the district,” she added.
