Education Facilities In The District

There are 202 educational institutions in the District out of which 147  are public and 55 are private. The institutions include Preschool (59), Primary School (83), JHS (57) and SHS (2) TEC/VOC (1)

The table below shows the number and categories of the various educational institutions in the district

School Enrolment

Records from the District Education office indicate that, a total enrolment for 2009/2010 academic year is 63490 representing 10353 (16%) for preschool, 34897 (55%) for primary school and 6778 (11%) for senior secondary schools.

Out of the total enrolment figure, 50222 constitute public and 1193 for private schools. With respect to male/female enrolment, out of the total enrolment about 53% of the school children enrolled is males and 47% for females. This is shown in the table below.

Enrolment and Capitation Grant

Total enrolment in basic schools for 2009/2010 academic has increase drastically as compared to 2007/2008 academic year in public schools. This increase is attributed to the introduction of the capitation grant in schools. The Birim South District received an amount of 528,366,000.00 for the first quarter of 2005/2006 academic year. This amount has to some extend reduce the burden on parents in educating their wards because parents who could not afford to educate their wards can not do so hence more children in schools.

This however decreases enrolment in private schools because of its expensive nature.

Ghana School Feeding Programme in the District

Ten (10) basic schools namely

Osorase L/A Primary and Kindergarten schools,

Akenkausu Methodist Primary and Kindergarten schools ,

Kokobeng Presby Primary and Kindergarten schools,

Anamase united primary and Kindergarten schools,

Anamase R/C primary and kindergarten schools,

Bieni L/A primary and Kindergarten schools,

Anyinam Kotoku Methodist primary and Kindergarten schools and

Anamase salvation army primary and kindergarten schools are benefiting from the Ghana School Feeding Programme in the District.

Plan are far advance to put basic facilities such as gas burners, two gas cylinder, cooking pots and other utensils for the smooth operation  of the programme.

According to district education officials, this programme is envisaged to further increase enrolment in public schools. There is therefore the need to put the necessary infrastructure in place to accommodate any future increase.

Staffing of Teaching in the District

The total number of teachers in the district is 951 representing 87% for public schools and 13% for private schools.

Out of the total number of teachers in the district, 551 are trained i.e. 97% in public and only 3% in private schools.

400 constitute the untrained teachers i.e. 72% in public schools and 28% in private schools.

The relationship between trained and untrained teachers shows a percentage of 58% for trained and 42% for untrained teachers which reflect a relatively high percentage for untrained teachers taking into cognizance the need for quality teaching and learning in school. This situation undeniably could affect the quality of education in the district.

Notwithstanding the above situation, there is still the problem of inadequate teachers especially in the rural areas as a result of high level of outflows of teachers for further studies and teachers refusal of posting to rural areas. Efforts are however been made under the National Youth and Employment Programme to employ more pupil teachers to fill the existing gap. The table below depicts the above staffing situation in the district.

The teacher-pupil ratio is as follows;

PRE-SCHOOL           -        49:1

PRIMARY                  -        40:1

JHS                           -       21:1

SHS                             -    12:1

The drop-out ratio is 1.06% for primary schools and 0.78% for Junior Secondary schools.

Science Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) Programme

The District education office in collaboration with the District Assembly (DA) organized STME programme to promote science technology and mathematics education especially among girls. This programme has achieved a lot of success in the District.

The table below gives detailed information on STME Programme since the creation of the District in 2008.

Sport Development

The Birim South Basic Schools Sports has been into four zones namely, Swedru Zone, Aperade Zone, Achiase Zone and Anamase Zone.

In the 2009, the first inter zonal festivals in the under 12 and 15 in the various disciplines were held in their respective zonal centers. Selected talents were picked to represent the District in the Inter District festival at New Abirem and Akwatia respectively for both under 12 and 15.

The same year, the two second cycle schools in the District Akim Swedru Senior High School and Achiase Senior High also participated in the Oda Zone Second Cycle Schools Sports festival held at Akim Oda to select talents to represent the zone at Kwahu Nkwatia

The year 2009 was also full of activities on community Sports participation, two clubs from the District qualified from 3rd Division to Second Division, Aperade and Bosome Deyoung F/C from Akim Swedru.

The later part of the year also witnessed Basic schools participating in the world under 13 tournaments held at Koforidua and Ho in the Volta Region respectively. Achiase R/C JHS represented the District and the Region in the World Under 13 Milo tournaments.

Achievements

Seven Boys from the District were selected to represent Eastern Region in the National Under 12 Milo Championship held at Kumasi; they won the Bronze MedalAchiase R/C JHS represented Eastern Region in the World under 13 Milo Championships at Ho.

The third Division Clubs in the District also qualified to the Second Division

The Major Problem Facing The Basic Schools Sports Association Is Lack Of Adequate Sport Faciliities And Equipments Being A New District.

Educational Infrastructure/Facilities Situation in the District.

Available data from the District Directorate of Education indicates that, out of the total number of public schools in the district, three (3) schools are overpopulated, fourteen (14) schools with dilapidated structures and eighteen (18) schools are without sanitary facilities. The remaining schools are relatively in good conditions.

The District Assembly (between 2008-2010) in collaboration with GES and other donors have provided several schools infrastructure throughout the district to improve the quality of education in the district. Most of these facilities have been completed while others are at various levels of implementation.