Minister worried about poor performance

The Deputy Minister  in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, has expressed his displeasure about the poor performance at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the North Tongu Constituency in the Volta Region.

He noted that 31 per cent of the students who took part in the BECE passed their examination while  22 per cent scored in the last two years, stressing,”this is unacceptable and must not be encouraged in the area”.

Mr Ablakwa said this during the Battor Hogbeza and the 10th Anniversary of the Enstoolment of Togbega Patamia Dzekley VII, the Paramount Chief of Battor Traditional Area. 

He noted that academic performance had been on the decline in the area due to the lack of coordination among parents, teachers and students.

Motivation of rural teachers

Mr Ablakwa said  the Ministry of Education was embarking on a programme to monitor the work of teachers who had deserted their classrooms in the rural areas and were performing other functions.

He said such actions denied students the opportunity to acquire quality education to enable them to access higher education. 

The deputy minister further mentioned that the government had outlined measures to encourage teachers who performed their duties deligently and with love in such areas to serve as motivation for others.

He announced that he had sponsored two hardworking teachers in the area for training in new methods of teaching and learning in China.

Mr Ablakwa assured the chiefs and people of Battor of the government’s commitment to improving the educational and other facilities to an acceptable standard to enhance their living conditions. 

Scholarship

The Paramount Chief of Battor Traditional Area, Togbega Patamia Dzekley VII, explained that the formation of the Togbega Educational Fund was to provide scholarships to needy brilliant students to further their education. 

He said since his enstoolment as the paramount chief 10 years ago, the Aveyime-Battor Senior High Technical School (ABAST) and the Battor Senior High School (BASEC) had benefited from government’s assistance. 

Challenges

Despite those achievements, the chiefs and people of Battor had been denied motorable roads to food producing areas where a quantity of foodstuff went waste because vehicles could not transport them to nearby markets.

He said some parts of the community also lacked electricity, a situation he described as worrying.  

Togbega Dzekley  appealed to the government to provide the area with social amenities to better the lives of the people.

The Regional Minister, Nii Afotey Agbo, in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Francis Ganyaglo, the Deputy Volta Regional Minister, commended the chiefs and people of Battor for ensuring that peace remained their prime focus and assured them of the government’s support to develop the area. 

The District Chief Executive Officer for the North Tongu, Madam Fafa Agbai,  also added that plans had been outlined to help improve on education in the area and called on all stakeholders to support the district.