Reading Clubs to improve standards in school in Akatsi District

Akatsi, March 22, GNA - Reading clubs for four schools in the Akatsi=

District have been inaugurated at Akatsi as part of an integrated program= me to stem the generally poor performance in schools in the district. The Netherlands Development Agency (SNV) initiated it and is under t= he aegis of the District Assembly, District Education Directorate with suppo= rt from Miss Mrs Alice Denueme-Gligui, the 2008 Best Teacher Second Runner-U= p. The beneficiary schools to run the pilot Reading Club project are Atsatsa Bame Primary, Zemu Primary and Junior High School (JHS), Agornu Akplorkplorte Primary and JHS and Xavi EP Primary and JHS.

The initiative was as a result of the Akatsi District, since 2004, witnessing consistent decline in the Basic School Certificate Examination=

(BECE), with 12 out of the 50 JHSs scoring zero percent in the 2008 BECE. Sachibu Mohammed, SNV Education Advisor, said School Performance Appraisal Meetings (SPAMs) in 2008 indicated that ineffective teaching methods and poor reading and learning habits by pupils were cause of the abysmal performances. He said SNV expected stakeholders in education in the district to ado= pt the programme, to make it sustainable and replicate it in the district. Mrs Denueme-Gligui said her support for the programme was the best w= ay her achievements could affect her home area and added that she had source= d for books and distributed them to schools in the district.