Formal Education

The importance of education in social, economic and political development of the Municipality cannot be over emphasized. Because of the premium the Municipality attaches to it, a greater chunk of its budget are spent on education. Offinso Municipality is endowed with schools providing formal education up to the tertiary level.

Types of Schools

There are eighty-three (83) kindergarten/nursery schools, eighty-three (83) primary schools, fifty-six (56) Junior High Schools, and three (3) Senior High Schools in the municipality. One of the Senior High Schools provides technical courses. There are also two (2) Vocational schools, One (1) College of Education, one (1) Midwifery Training school and a mission polytechnic, all located at Offinso. The vocational schools are located at Offinso. These public and private educational institutions provide human resources development opportunities for children and youth in the municipality. Table 22 shows the distribution of schools in the municipality.

At the pre-school level, total enrolment is 7,780 in 2013. Total girls enrolment is 50.1%, whiles boys enrolment is 49.9%. These results indicate a higher enrolment of girls than boys at the pre-school level. Measures must be put in place to ensure that these girls continue their education to higher levels.

Primary school enrolment in 2013 was 20,412. Unlike the pre-school level, boys’ enrolment at the primary level is higher than that of girls. At the JHS level, school enrolment in 2013 was 6,996 in 2013. Like the primary school level, boys’ enrolment is higher than that of girls at the JHS level, as shown in table 23.

This implies that as they climb the educational ladder to the top, the girls’ turn to dropout more than the boys. Girl Child educational drives in the municipality is not making much impact. There is the need to put in place measures to ensure the retention of girls in school throughout the education ladder.

School Infrastructure

School infrastructure at the pre-school and basic levels in the municipality is grossly inadequate. Classrooms and furniture are inadequate, and some of the existing classrooms are poor. This is evident in table 24. Out of 90 classrooms at the pre-school level, 26 (28.9 %) are poor, and there is a backlog of 105 classrooms. About 4,015 children out of the 5,864 children currently in pre-school do not have furniture.

A total of 89 classrooms are in poor state at the pre-school and basic school levels. In addition there is a total furniture backlog of 12,419 tables and 10,341 chairs. There is therefore the need to improve the infrastructure situation at the pre-school and basic school levels so as to provide the right environment for effective academic work.

The number of public schools with safe toilet facilities 2013 was twenty-seven (27). This means about seventy-four (74) public basic schools (primary and JHS) in the municipality still do not have safe toilet facilities. This situation has a lot of health implications. There is therefore the need to provide safe toilet facilities to basic schools in the district.

Library and ICT facilities in schools are grossly inadequate. Out of the total of one hundred and one (101) public primary and junior high schools in the municipality only thirty-seven (37) have some level of library facilities and only thirty-three (33) have some level of ICT facilities.

There exist total excess teachers of 398 in the municipality, whiles a total of 249 teachers in public basic schools in the municipality (representing 20.6%) are untrained. Most of the untrained teachers are in the rural areas. The high number of untrained teachers in the municipality has serious ramification on quality education.

Appropriate interventions are therefore needed to provide regular training to the untrained teachers; whiles the municipality makes effort to replace them with trained teachers in the medium to long term, so as ensure the proper development of children at this level. Generally, there are adequate teachers at all levels in the municipality. Measures are required to continue to retain and supervise them to ensure improved quality education in the municipality.

Supervision and Performance in BECE

Supervision

Most of the key school level stakeholders (PTAs and SMCs) are still inactive. There is therefore a weak linkage between schools and their respective communities (who are owners of schools). The responsibility of the communities to plan, manage, monitor and maintain the effective running of schools is rarely carried out. This is affecting school performance at the basic levels.

Intensive education of community members is necessary, so as to encourage them to form such management groups for the better management of schools, and for the direct benefit of all children in the communities. It is also necessary to train the PTAs and SMCs to improve their performances.

The average number of visit per month to schools, by the inspectorate division of the Municipal Education Directorate are 1, 1, 2 and 2 in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. The performance is still below the required average of 3.0 visits per month. The Municipal Education directorate has six (6) motorbikes and two (2) vehicles for monitoring, but delays in the release of traveling and risk allowances, fuel and other incentives are affecting effective monitoring and supervision of schools. Parental care for children is generally low in the municipality. Kids loiter about after school deep into the night. They engage in all manner of activities including funerals, computer games, gambling etc.

Performance in BECE

The general performance of pupils in the BECE in the municipality has improved from 40.20% in 2009 to 89.9% in 2013. However, quality of education at the basic level in the municipality is still low. For instance only 5 candidates, out of a total of 7,252 pupils who participated in the BECE from 2010 to 2013 obtained aggregate six (6). A total of 2,247 obtained between aggregate 7 and 24. This therefore means that only few children from the municipality were enrolled into good grade senior high schools. If the trend continues most kids from the municipality would not receive the required preparation for decent adult lives.

School Feeding and Capitation Grant

The objectives of the School Feeding Programme are to enhance school enrolment, encourage attendance, ensure retention and improve the nutritional and health status of children. Currently, there are twenty-six (26) schools which are benefiting from the school feeding programme in the municipality. The Capitation Grant is also aimed at enhancing basic school enrolment andretention. However, the trend in enrolment figures from 2010/2011 to 2012/2013 academic years shows a reduction from 27,386 to 27,178. The implementation of two national programmes in the municipality seems not to be making the required impacts. The municipality to beneficiary schools and impact in terms of enrolment is presented in table 28 below: