'There are more avenues for BECE candidates'

Page 50
28-08-08

A DEPUTY Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, has said the inability of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates to qualify for senior high schools does not mean that they have failed.
According to her, there were other avenues such as vocational and technical schools through which they could continue their education.
Reacting to recent concerns about the alleged failures of BECE candidates, Mrs Baiden-Amissah said 50 per cent of BECE candidates were able to qualify for senior high schools last year, and that the ministry was expecting more candidates to qualify this year.
A section of the media had reported that 50 per cent of BECE who wrote 2007 and 2008 examination had failed.
But Mrs Baiden-Amissah said although the candidates did not fail, the ministry was not happy with about half of the candidates not being able to qualify for senior high school.
She blamed the failure of some candidates to secure the required marks for qualification for placement into senior high schools on the candidates themselves, parents and teachers.
She said most final-year junior high school (JHS) candidates did not take their studies seriously, adding that they spent time watching pornographic and other movies instead of using their precious time to study.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah also said some parents did not care about the education of their children as they did not take the pain to go to their (children’s) schools to find out the progress of academic work.
Some parents, she said, left the house at dawn and returned late, thereby unable to monitor what their children did, and stressed the need for parents to show interest in their children’s education.
For teachers, she said, some of them were not serious as they did not sit in class but spent time doing other things, saying that some teachers did not even prepare lesson plans, let alone notes.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah said the government would continue to provide social intervention programmes such as the Capitation Grant and School Feeding Programme, as well as facilities to ensure effective teaching and learning.