Education has an important role to play in the district’s development. Education helps to train the man power for socio-economic development. Almost every community with a population of more than 300 has a primary school. Junior and Senior High schools are found in a number of towns and villages. There are 139 kindergartens, made up of 56 public and 83 private schools. There are also 143 primary schools out of which 60 are public schools and 83 private, whilst there are 117 JHS, made up of 57 public schools and 60 private.  There are more private basic schools than public schools in the district. The number of basic schools both public and private is shown in Tables 1.42 and 1.43. The distribution of basic schools is fairly well spread in the district as compared to second cycle and tertiary level institutions.

There are 8 educational circuits to enhance the supervision of the schools. The circuits are

1. Abono                                                          5.  Jachie

2. Brodekwano                                                  6.   Oyoko

3. Kuntanase east                                             7.   Sawua        

4. Kuntanase west                                             8.   Esreso

Four (4) out of the 8 circuits are in the Jachie Area Council, 3 in the Kuntanase Area Council, 1 is in the Boneso Area Council.

Enrolment in Public Basic Schools

Enrolment in public basic schools from 2014-2017 is depicted in the table 1.41 below. From the table, in 2014, total enrolment for the basic schools was 23404 made up of 11938 males and 11466 females.  Enrolment however increased marginally by 0.9 percent in 2015 to 24633 made up of 12379 males and 12254 females. In 2017 total enrolment was 23716, made up of 12005 males and 11711 females. This figure was a slight decrease from the 2016 academic year which stood at 23920 made up of 12181 males and 1739 females. In all the years males enrolled were more than females.

Enrolment in Private Basic Schools from 2014-2017

The private basic school level enrolment for the period under review is shown in the table below. Enrolment increased from 12213 in 2014 made up of 5679 males and 5534 females to 13207 in 2015 which was about 8.1 percent increment. Enrolment again increased from 13207 in 2015 to 15370 in 2016 an increase of about 16.4 percent. Enrolment in the private basic schools further increased in 2017 by 10.8 percent. In all the years as in public basic schools males were more than females at all the levels.

From the analysis of the enrolment levels from 2014-2017 whilst enrolment levels keep on decreasing in public basic schools’ enrolment in private basic schools keep on increasing. This means that parents have lost interest in public basic schools where even tuition fees are not paid.

   
Teacher Population

Total number of teachers in the district is adequate compared to the size of the student population. In 2014 there was 1625 teaching staff at post in public schools, made up of 878 males and 747 females whilst their counterparts in private schools were 562 made up of 412 males and 150 female. In 2014, there was 1189 trained teachers out of the total of 1625 teachers. In case of teachers in the private schools out 562 teachers only 59 were trained teachers. However theteacher population in both public and private schools increased in the 2016 academic year as depicted in Table In public schools in 2016 there were 1701 teachers made up of 994 males and 707 females. In private schools there were 711 teachers.

Educational Performance

The performance of students Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) from 2014-2016 is analysed in Table below.  The performance of students has been dwindling since 2014.  In 2014 they had 70.03 percent passes, but increased to 65.7 percent in 2015 and decreased further in 2016 to 53.7 percent in 2016 as shown in Table 1.46 below.

2014 BECE -Schools which had 100% Pass

1. Jachie Anglican JHS                                     11. Future Academy JHS

2. Saviour Int. JHS                                           12. Jachie Adventist JHS

3. God’s Grace Int. JHS                                    13. Excellence Academy JHS

4. Living Waters JHS                                        14. Star of Triumphant JHS

5. Calvary Meth. JHS                                        15. Great Vision JHS

6. Pramso Holy Family Int. JHS                         16. Destiny Exp. Academy

7. Dedesua D/A JHS                                         17. Leaders of Tomorrow JHS

8. For Christ Int. JHS                                         18. Agape Academy

9. Feyiase Joy Standard JHS                              19. Akwaduo D/A JHS

10. Children’s House JHS                                    20. Stay Blessed JHS

Schools which had 0%

1. Nyameani D/A JHS

2. Kokodei D/A JHS

3. Abono D/A JHS

2015 BECE - Schools which had 100% Pass

1. Nyameani  D/A JHS                                         13. Excellence Academy

2. Abono D/A JHS                                               14. Great Vision JHS

3. Sawua D/A JHS                                               15. Destiny Experimental

4. Tetrefu D/A JHS                                              16. Quality Education Complex

5. Homabenase                                                   17.Agape Academy

6. Prabon D/A JHS                                               18.Akwaduo D/A JHS

7. Saviour Int. JHS                                               19.Stay Blessed Academy

8. God,s Grace Int JHS                                         20.Right-on Int. school

9. Living Waters Int. JHS                                       21.Solid Hope JHS

10. Calvary Meth. JHS                                           22.Trust Experimental

11. Feyiase Joy Standard JHS                                23.Penworth Int. JHS

12. Future Academy                                               24.Great Bethel JHS

25. Future Leaders JHS

Schools which had 0%

1. Onwe D/A JHS

2. Asuoho Adwafo D/A JHS

3. Children’s House Int.JHS

2016 BECE -Schools which had 100% Pass

In 2016, 14 schools in the had 100 percent pass and they included

1. God’s Grace Int. JHS                                         9.  Solid Hope Int. JHS

2. Living Waters Int. JHS                                      10. Trust Experimental JHS

3. Calvary Meth. JHS                                            11. Penworth Int. JHS

4. Feyiase Joy Standard School                             12. Benny Educational Complex

5. Future Academy Int. JHS                                   14. Paradise divine Int. JHS

6. Excellence  academy JHS

7. Agape academy JHS

8. Bonkorkor D/A JHS

Schools that Scored 0%

1. Konkoma D/A JHS

2. Amakom Meth. JHS

3. Children’s House Int. JHS

4. Deduako D/A JHS

Proportion of Boys and Girls Passes at the BECE from 2014-2016

Table 1.47 shows the proportion of boys and girls passes at the BECE in the district from 2014 -2016.The boys’ percentage passes decreased from 67.5 percent in 2014 to 66.5 percent in 2015. It further decreased drastically to 53.8 percent in 2016. The girls performed better than the boys in 2014 as they had 71.9 percent passes. This vintage performance of the girls in 2014, however decreased to 65.0 percent 2015 in 2015, which further decreased to 53.8 percent in 2016 as depicted in Table. The fluctuating performance of the students could be as a result of truancy after registration. The dwindling performance of   students is worrying and there is the need for the Assembly and District Directorate of education to put in place measures to improve the performance of students in the BECE.  

Senior High/Vocational/Technical

At the secondary level (Senior High/Vocational/Technical), the proportion of males with such education is 50.57% compared to females of 49.43%. The educational characteristics of the district indicate that more males have higher educational levels in relation to their female counterparts. The gender disparity between males and females at the tertiary level for instance is too wide (gap of 39.4%) which calls for intensive initiatives to strengthen girl child education in the district.

Crowded Schools

Basically, schools that are crowded are those along the main road that lead to Kuntanase, the district capital and its environment.  These schools include Esreso Primary and JHS, Feyiase Primary and JHS, Aputuogya Primary and JHS, Jachie D/A 2 and Kuntanase schools.  There is however a few schools quite crowded at some circuit-centre schools which are not necessarily along the said main road.

Schools in Dilapidated Buildings

Schools in dilapidated buildings are not many in the district, but the few ones are basically found in remote parts of the district.  Examples are the Asuoho Adwafo, Anyinatiase, Asisiriwa Methodist Primary and Eduaben D/A JHS.

Schools and their Furniture Needs

All schools might have one or two challenges when it comes to furniture needs, but those which are critical are those with very high class enrolments.  Once again those are the schools found along the main road that lead to Kuntanase and the nearby schools.  They include Esreso Primary and JHS, Feyiase and Aputuogya schools. Table depicts the furniture needs of basic schools in the district.   From table 1.45 about 5,161 mono and 7322 dual desks are needed in the basic schools.

 Capitation Grant

The Capitation Grant is one of the social protection programmes in the education sector. The main objective of the programme is to increase participation in basic education and increase school attendance rate. An amount of GHc319, 789.00 was disbursed for the period covering 2014-2016 as shown in the table 1.51 below

The key challenged to the implementation of the programme as usual is the timely disbursement of the funds and its adequacy to schools

 School Feeding Programme in the District

The School Feeding Programmes is a social protection programme which seeks to provide one meal to school children in public basic schools in Ghana so as to improve enrolment and retention rate in public schools. It also provide children in public kindergarten and primary schools with one hot nutritious meal on every school going day to reduce malnutrition. The beneficiary schools have been increasing year by year. In 2014 there were 27 beneficiary schools, whilst in 2015 there were 30 schools which benefitted from the programme currently thirty seven (37) schools are beneficiaries of the programme as shown in table 1.52

The District also benefitted from the Hershey Company’s piloted intervention programme in which VIVI products are supplied to school pupils daily. This programme started in October, 2015.

Unpaid Feeding Grant

Government owes caterers to the tune of 90 feeding days, covering the period: Third term 2015/2016 academic year and first term 2016/2017 academic year.

Despite benefits of the programme, the programme is faced with the serious challenge of irregular and delay in the release of funds to caterers. Due to inadequate funding, it is still difficult for the programme to be extended to other schools. It is however recommended that efforts should be made to release funds on time for the caterers also to perform their duties as expected of them.

+Key Development Issues in Education

Key development issues affecting the education sector include:

* Dilapidated and congested classrooms

* Poor academic performance in basic schools.

* Inadequate teaching materials.

* Lack of stationery for administrative purposes

* Inadequate ICT Facilities in schools

* Lack of fund for periodic monitoring

* Inadequate logistics-vehicles, motor-bikes for enhanced operations

* Inadequate accommodation for teachers

* Lack of Libraries

* Lack of sanitary facilities in schools

* Inadequate support for brilliant but needy students

* Presence of untrained teachers

* Inadequate support for Science,  Technology, Mathematics and Innovation Education (STMIE) CAMP

* Inadequate financial support and delay in the release of GoG, Capitation grants, etc

* Deplorable nature of roads to certain schools and communities

* Low output of some teachers due to irregularity and non-punctuality

* Limited School Feeding Programme

The Assembly and its development partners would undertake the under-listed interventions to enhance effective teaching and learning. They would include

* Construct and rehabilitate  classrooms

* Conduct mock exams for JHS Students

* Provide adequate teaching materials

* Provide ICT facilities in basic and secondary

* Construct accommodation blocks for teachers

* Construct Libraries for schools/communities

* Provide sanitary facilities for schools

* Continue and sustain the District Education Fund

* Provide adequate support for Science Technology, Mathematics and Innovation Education (STMIE) CAMP

* Adequate financial support especially from the District Assembly

* Effective monitoring and supervision

* In-service training (INSET) and workshops to be organised for teachers periodically to enhance efficiency

* Improvement of the road network to schools