Dodome traditional area awards best performing 2022 BECE graduates

Dodome traditional area, a farming settlement in the Ho West district of the Volta Region has honoured some three 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) best performed graduates.

The awardees, a girl and two boys are now first year students of the various Senior High Schools (SHS) they've been posted to. They were given the awards alongside some 13 teachers of Dodome-Awuiasu L/A Basic School, where the students had their basic education.

Other schools in the traditional area, Dodome Avexa L/A JHS, Dodome Teleafenu E.P,JHS, Dodome Awlime and Dodome Dogblome JHSs were also given awards for participating in the BECE.

The initiative was championed by Dodome Education Endowment Fund (DODEEF), a community based non-governmental foundation established some years ago purposely to encourage education in the Dodome traditional area.

The awards ceremony was held alongside a denominational thanksgiving church service on Sunday, July 30, 2023 in Dodome-Awuiasu Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) Church, Ghana.

The Pastor of the church, Reverend Foster Mawusi, who doubles as the chairman of DODEEF board of trustees congratulated the 2022 batch in the traditional area and thanked teachers for their efforts.

Before presenting the awards, he said "Education is not just about grades and awards, it is about nurturing world rounded individuals who posses not only knowledge but also understanding critical thinking and strong moral compass, it is about fostering the love for learning and encouraging curiosity and promoting life long pursuit of knowledge, it is about equipping our children with the skills they need to strive in an urban changing world".

The man of God urged parents to prioritise education of their children.

"Your role of as a parent in your child's education is undeniably crucial and has a fulfilling part of their academic, social and emotional development, parents are child's first teachers, you therefore have the responsibility to support your children academically, as parents we need to create a conducive learning environment at home, help with hard homework and encourage positive attitude towards learning", he said.

He also called on teachers to serve as a mentor and a role model for his or her students.

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Francis Yaw Agbemati was at the ceremony.

He said the initiative by the Dodome traditional area was "very remarkable and very fantastic, it's very fascinating, in the early 80s and 90s we witnessed self help projects in communities but with time it died but to see this community coming up with this initiative, I think is laudable and I'll encourage them to continue so that children who's background are not too good this things can help them"

"And the awards scheme that they've put in place is going to motivate more of the children to do well", he added.

Francis Yaw Agbemati said the regional education directorate is well prepared to hold this year's BECE and hopefully they are going to perform better than the past students.

The director revealed that the girl child education in the region has improved over the last few years with a call on society to prioritise the girl child education.

Some parents at the ceremony praised the idea with a call on the board of trustees of DODEEF to continue with the initiative in order to encourage their children to stay in school.