Programme to improve performance of Primary Schools

Ho, Sept 22, GNA -- A total of 330 Primary Schools in the country are to benefit from "Quality Improvement in Primary Schools" (QUIPS) project.

The five-year programme which is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is part of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme and is aimed at improving the quality of teaching and learning in basic schools.

Mrs Christine Searyoh, Deputy Volta Regional Director of Education, who opened a one-day workshop in Ho on Monday for stakeholders in the USAID/QUIPS partnership programme said the programme was relevant in the face of failing standards coupled with poor learning at the basic and post basic levels.

She said "ironically, private schools which are less endowed with professional or trained teachers continue to perform better than public schools academically."

She said results from the baseline test conducted by the partnership in literacy and numeracy for five pilot districts in the Volta region indicted that much was expected from stakeholders in terms of learning and teaching materials, textbooks and establishment of libraries as well as supervision of learning and teaching.

Mrs Searyoh said some of the factors inhibiting high performance in schools are low enrolment, access and participation, drop-out rates and pupil/teacher attendance. She called on participants to come out with strategies that can help find solutions to the prevailing poor quality of education in schools.

Mr Julius Adjaklo, training officer for "Improving Learning through Partnership (ILP)", one of the Non-Governmental Organisations in the QUIP partnership implementing the programme said the programme also aims at strengthening teacher competence, cultivating educational managers and planners and promoting a supportive community learning environment.

He said since the inception of the programme in 1997, it has given assistance to 117 schools in 39 districts and added that lessons learnt at the community and district levels would be replicated at the regional levels and channelled into the education reforms.

More than 45 participants attended the workshop including Captain George Nfodjo, Ho District Chief Executive and Mrs Jane Aidam, Ho District Director of Education with other participants drawn from beneficiary communities and schools in the Ho district.

Other NGOs forming the partnership are the Catholic Relief Services, Community School Alliance, International Foundation for Education and self-help and the performance monitoring and evaluation group.