Address challenges of computerised placement — Most Rev Lodonu
The Catholic Bishop for Ho Diocese, Most Reverend Francis Anani Kofi Lodonu, has urged the Ghana Education Service (GES), to address challenges associated with the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), to ensure that senior high school (SHS) placement is done on time to enable students to start the academic year early.
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Addressing the 62nd speech and prize giving day of the Bishop Herman Senior High School (BIHECO) in Kpando in the Volta Region, he expressed concern about what he described as the limited time available for SHS students to prepare for their final examinations, adding that many students actually started their courses in January instead of August, depending on the time that they got posted to their schools.
This, he said, made some students to do the actual course in two years, leading to poor performance at the examinations.
Strong academic commitment
Bishop Lodonu said the Catholic schools were founded with strong academic commitment and that made their students perform very well despite the challenges, and urged the students to continue to learn hard to achieve their academic laurels.
He touched on the need to deal with corruption and said the fight against it could be won if the virtues of life were taught from the kindergarten through to the tertiary level and applied in the world of work.
Speaking on the theme, “Science- Mathematics-Technology Education: The Bedrock of Ghana’s Development”, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Professor Jerry Samuel Kuma, said available ratings had revealed that 22 countries were scientifically advanced, 24 as scientifically proficient, 40 as scientifically developed and the rest as scientifically deficient.
Human capital for research
He said those countries that had invested in human capital for research had become scientifically advanced and made breakthroughs in scientific technology.
Professor Kuma said the nation was basking in the glory of natural resources which were only exploited in raw forms for export, adding that the nation needed to have a fresh look into science and technology to propel technology into industrialisation.
He stressed that science and technology education should permeate more national programmes to bail the nation out of becoming a scientifically deficient nation.
In an address, the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Emmanuel Ketteku, said the necessity of science and technology to the country’s development agenda could not be underestimated, and that conscious efforts were needed to tackle issues related to development.
Headmaster’s report
In a report, the headmaster of the school, Reverend Father Walter Mawusi Agbetoh, said the school placed 23rd on the national league of the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) last year and was the best in the Volta Region.
He said discipline was the basis of academic excellence and that the staff of the school was serious in checking deviant behaviour and to instil the virtue of self -discipline in students.
Rev. Fr. Agbetoh appealed to past students to come to the aid of the school and help it address some of its challenges, adding that the laboratories needed to be upgraded to enhance the teaching of Science and Mathematics.
