The quest is also to ensure as many students qualify from the junior high school to take advantage of the free senior high school education to be introduced in September this year.

Municipal Chief Executive of the area, Alhaji Alidu Seidu who is worried that performance has fallen below standard attributed the rather unfortunate situation to among things

•    the poverty situation in most communities in the municipality
•    inadequate infrastructure such as classrooms and furniture for both pupils and teachers,
•    inadequate logistics including basic teaching materials like text books all hindering teaching and learning

The supervisory institution, the education directorate has not been spared the ordeals, because not only is it reeling under office accommodation challenges but also bedeviled with means of transport to the extent that circuit supervisors are not able to effectively perform their supervisory roles in their various circuits.

He said he will focus on addressing these challenges by providing more classroom blocks, provide furniture, cash support for brilliant but needy pupils, provision of ICT laboratories for schools, as well as part funding of mock examinations.

The MCE also assured that efforts are underway to expand the school feeding programme from the current 20 schools to cover more to help improve enrollment.