Denu (VR),- Mintah Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has initiated a district quiz competition for Junior High School (JHS) pupils in both private and public schools in North Dayi.
The competition, which saw all public JHSs in the six circuits of the district compete separately from their counterparts in private schools at the preliminary stages had Cornerstone Preparatory School, the only private school at the grand finale emerging the winner.
The event monitored by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) rewarded participating pupils at the preliminary stages with books and cash prizes while all participating schools at the grand finale were awarded various sums of money, book prizes, and certificates with the ultimate winners, and the first and second runners-up schools receiving special cash and book prizes, medals, certificates, and trophies.
The coordinator of the quiz competition, Mr Anthony Dzontoh speaking to the media said the objective was to encourage participants and their mates to focus on their studies as they prepared for the forthcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to arrest the nosedive in BECE results in the district.
The seasoned teacher and entrepreneur who expressed worry at the poor performance at the BECE level, appealed to well-meaning indigenes to collaborate with the Foundation and other stakeholders to improve the quality of education so North Dayi District could get back to those days when it was noted for producing high caliber human resource.
Mr Dzontoh was grateful to the Management of the schools for taking part in the competition and also lauded the role and support of the District Education Directorate in ensuring that the event was successful.
Mr Edmund Attah Kudjoh, District Chief Executive for North Dayi in an interview with the GNA said it worried him that the performance at the BECE level continued to be poor despite investments by governments at the basic education level in the district.
“I’m not enthused about the performance of school children academically because of the huge investment that governments over the years have made, especially from 2017 till date. I don’t have a problem, for example, schools under trees here.
I’ve been able to provide every school with classroom facilities to the extent that communities that were walking long distances and had to climb hills, mountains to access schools now have classroom blocks and furniture. And so, I expect that we should do better than what it is now, yet, that’s not what I’m seeing.”
He said the problem of poor performance might be due to parental neglect or shirking of responsibilities onto teachers and government and, indiscipline and hints of plans to engage stakeholders in education at the basic level including traditional authorities to reverse the trend.
“Education generally is on a downward trend because two years ago, Vakpo Senior High School (in North Dayi) came first in the region and last year, was the eighth. Also, Anfoega Senior High School is not doing badly at all,” Mr Kudjoh noted.
Mintah Foundation, which has Mr Manasseh Mintah, an indigene (now in the diaspora) as its President, is committed to providing quality education, healthcare and improving the social well-being of North Dayi District residents.
Source: Ghana News Agency
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