The fate of BECE students in Chereponi hangs in a balance

The fate of the performances of Chereponi Junior High School hangs in a balance as students await their Basic Examination Certificate Exam (BECE) in 15 days following the clashes between Konkombas and Chereponi’s.

Leader of the EP Junior High School have raised concerns on how students are struggling to study in preparation for the 2019 BECE following the ongoing conflict in the area.

According to a teacher and native of the area, Masoma Azizs Awufor, students in the conflict area are not unable to cover enough nor had examinable mock for the upcoming BECE which comes in 15 days.

He said schools had to be closed down for weeks, affecting the classes of BECE students.

“Almost all of our schools have been closed. We have 15 days for our students to sit in for their BECE…..when we were about to test our students, the conflict came. So our students could not have the first mock… and now we have a few days to go,” he said.

He noted that all the papers they prepared for student mock have been left unattended till date due to the ongoing conflict.

Speaking with Star Fm, the Head Teacher of the School, Samuel BK Ajari who is also the Chereponi District Chairman for the Ghana National Association of Teachers, said both teachers and students are traumatized.

He added that teachers have left the students behind living them to their fate. He said that state alone is going to affect the performances of the students in that area.

“The students are all traumatized and likewise the teachers too... Because of this thing, there has been an exodus of teachers moving out of this district seeking refuge outside the conflict zone”

He has therefore called on the Government to bring teachers to the area to help in the preparation of the BECE exams of the students.

The School Prefect of the Cherepony Ep Junior High School, Rahinatu Muhammed Alhassan, added that she had to leave Chereponi on the 19^th of April due to the unsafe condition in the area towards the preparation of their BECE exams.

He added that the student had to return when the conflict comes to prepare for their examination.

She lamented that the conflict only seems to arise when the students plan to come together for studies.

“I feel very sad….. Is so appalling… is like the fight, they always mean the time to learn…. When we were ready to write our mock, this same attack came… when we came back and got prepared again… the fight also came,” she noted.

The perfect added that he cannot confirm students in that area are fully ready and prepared for the BECE.

Background

The violent clashes broke out in 1994 tied down and resurfaced in January this year, residents and workers living elsewhere now have described the renewed clashes as the worse in a very long time.

Both clans have a great sense of communal help and so during the conflict, both sides get support from their kinsmen who travel from all over the country and elsewhere to help them fight.