Confusion mars teachers awards ceremony

Confusion erupted at a teachers awards ceremony at Ntotroso organised by the Newmont Ahafo Development Foundation (NADeF) to recognise teachers who have contributed to the development of their schools in the Asutifi North District in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

This occurred when some chiefs in the area and some stakeholders accused the teachers of ignoring their main duties, thereby leading to the poor performance of pupils and students in the area.

Forum

The programme was also used as a forum to brainstorm issues that will help improve and sustain the quality of basic school education in the 10 Newmont Ahafo Mining communities.

The chiefs and stakeholders could not understand why students and pupils of private schools in the area performed better than those in public schools.

That did not go down well with the teachers. Tempers rose and words were exchanged by both sides.

The Chief of Ntotroso, Barima Twereko Ampem III, who chaired the programme, stopped the open forum and directed that further follow-ups should be conducted to find out the causes of the poor performance of the students in the area.

BECE performance

Touching on the performance of students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), the Asutifi North District Examination Officer, Mr George Yidana, stated that the district recorded 33 per cent pass in the BECE examination in 2017, as compared to 63 per cent in 2016.

According to him, out of the 1,255 candidates who sat for the 2017 BECE, only 413 candidates, made up of 204 males and 209 females, achieved between aggregate six and 30.

Mr Yidana mentioned that only four schools, from the total of 91 schools, made up 41 public schools and 50 private schools, scored 100 per cent.

Awards scheme

The awards scheme formed part of the Quality Improvement in Basic School (QUIBS) project that was launched in November 2015 by the NADeF in partnership with the Asutifi North and Tano North District Education directorates and the district assemblies to ensure sustained improvement in the quality of basic school education in the 10 mining communities and seven of its satellite towns by the end of 2020.

Currently, 43 public schools are benefiting from the QUIBS project which is aimed at the creation of an enabling and conducive environment and mobilisation of community support to pave the way for effective teaching and learning in basic schools.

Ten teachers were rewarded with table top fridges, while Mr Emmanuel Amponsah of the Kenyasi No 2 T.I Ahmadiyya Primary School was presented with a 32-inch LCD television set.