I humbly call on President Atta Mills to commend Nana Akufo-Addo for his vision to make basic education end at the Senior High level and also put the ‘Teacher First’ as President Mills and his NDC government have failed in implementing policies that seek to improve the academic performance at the basic level especially in the president’s own home region. If indeed the president is honest, as we have been made to believe, then he should come out and declare that he has failed and commend Nana Adoo for his foresight on education. Also, President Mills should apologise to the people of Central region as his government has failed the people for not doing anything to ensure better academic performance in the region and Ghana at large.
A three-year trend analysis of the Basic Education Certificate Examination results under Prof Mills paints a very sordid picture of the performance of our supposed future leaders. In 2008, Prof Mills stated in the NDC’s manifesto (page 11) that “The quality of education is at an all time low with 50% of JSS students who last year sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations, failing ‘beyond pardon’- failure”, where West African Examinations Council came out to deny that the figures given by the NDC for the 2007 BECE performance were not factual and that the percentage pass for 2007 was about 62%, yet Prof Mills, for the purpose of the usual NDC propaganda, stated 50% in the NDC’s manifesto. If the then candidate Mills saw his propaganda 50% failure beyond pardon and as a cause for concern and asked the people to give him the mandate to better the performance, then what has President Mills got to say about the abysmal 46% BECE pass in 2011 under his presidency? Does it not provide more than enough grounds for the people of Ghana to vote him and his non-performing government out in 2012?
One would have thought that the situation in the home region (Central Region) of the president would have been a bit better because we were promised ‘adze wo fie a oye’, but surprisingly, the situation is even worse. The BECE candidates in the Central region are not faring any better in terms of performance under Uncle Fiifi Atta Mills. A glance at the statistics in the central region reveals that in 2007, the percentage pass was 50.3%, then improved to 56.3% in 2008 and further improved to57% in 2009. The NDC government cannot be credited with the 57% pass recorded in 2009 because the candidates registered under the NPP and got prepared before Prof Mills assumed office as president. Also, the candidates wrote the examinations in the latter part of March and early April, 2009 when Prof had not even finished with his appointments to take full charge. What do we see after Prof Mills had taken full charge? Failure galore! The 57% pass recorded in the Central region in early 2009 declined to 51.1% in 2010 and has further declined to 49.1% in 2011. Detailed analysis reveals that in 2009, 2010 and 2011, the total number of schools that had 0% in the Central region was 42, 65 and 77 respectively. The total number of BECE candidates that had 0% in the Central region in 2009, 2010 and 2011 were 548, 815 and a whopping 1767 respectively.
With a specific look at the Cape Coast Metropolis where the Member of Parliament (Barton Odro) falsely claims that he is doing a lot to improve upon the performance of the BECE candidates, the figures prove otherwise. The percentage passes in Cape Coast Metropolis in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 66.5%, 57.3% and 50.2% respectively. The number of schools with 100% passes in the Cape Coast metropolis in the year 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 19, 12 and 10 respectively. Again, the number of schools with 0% in Cape Coast Metropolis in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 0, 1 and 3 respectively. Furthermore, the total number of candidates in the Cape Coast metropolis that had 0% in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 0, 28 and 93 respectively. With this declining performance in the BECE in the Cape Coast Metropolis, the pertinent question that Barton Odro should answer is that, what has been the essence of the 10,000 old cedis that he charges every pupil daily for the so-called ‘MP’s free extra classes’ in Cape Coast?
Analysis of the BECE performance in the Mfantseman Municipality (home district of president Mills) also reveals a very disappointing trend under president Mills. Percentage BECE passes in the Mfantseman Municipality for 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 43.9%, 47.2% and 36.8% respectively. Also, the number of Schools in the Mfantseman Municipality that had 0% in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 5, 6 and 10 respectively. Furthermore, the total number of BECE candidates that had 0% in the Mfantseman Municipality in 2009, 2010 and 2011 are 159, 76 and 252 respectively.
I have heard people argue that the Ghana Education Service as an institution, parents and teachers should take the blame but not the government but I disagree because in 2008, Prof Mills- a professional teacher and also lecturer for 25 years- placed the blame squarely on Kufuor’s government for a rather better BECE performance. Why did then candidate Mills not blame GES, parents and teachers at that time? What is the essence of having a minister with two deputies for the Ministry of Education and also a director for basic education?
The foregoing worsening BECE performance in the Central region and Ghana at large since 2009 shows that the Prof Mills-led NDC government has no clear-cut policy to improve upon the BECE performance which will eventually lead to a bleak future for this country. It is in line with this that Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will put the ‘Teacher first’, strengthen the inspectorate division of GES among other things to improve upon performance at the basic level and also ensure that basic education ends at the Senior High level.
Nana Addo said; “We need to reverse the current trend which sees half of students failing at the BECE level at 15 as minors who are not old enough to be employed, yet who are considered old enough by the system to leave basic school, but to a future of grave uncertainties. In five years, that could amount to an additional one million young men and women in our streets without any form of employable skills. We need to bring an end to this disastrous phenomenon. We cannot afford failing 50% of our youth. It is potentially a major threat to our national security.
We must improve on the quality of education at the basic level. Right from kindergarten, we should make schooling an attractive, challenging and satisfying experience for our children and their teachers. That means we should provide modern classrooms and teaching aids to ensure that Ghana's schools would be of the standard that will produce the trained personnel we require to power our industrializing economy.
It is, thus, necessary to redefine basic education so that it ends, not at the Junior High School, but at the Senior High School (SHS) level. Children should not be expected to join the workforce at age 15 - and even the brightest of them would benefit from a few more years in school. Senior High School will be free for all Ghanaian children - and this period will provide a better opportunity for them to discover their talents and give them a better platform to build their lives, to make the Ghanaian workforce more competitive on the world stage”. Nana Addo is the man to be trusted on this and not Mills.
By: Richard Takyi-Mensah
Central Region NPP Communications Director Tel: 0249167226
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