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EDUCATION

WA: The education sector in Wa Municipality receives various interventions

The Wa Municipal Assembly has initiated a project dubbed " One-Pupil-One-Dictionary (1P1D)" to help improve the poor performance of pupils in the English Language.

Date Created : 3/29/2019 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Prosper K. Kuorsoh

To put the initiative into action, the Assembly in the 2017/2018 academic year, procured a total of 7,000 copies of dictionaries for distribution to pupils by the Municipal Education Directorate. Another 14,000 copies were procured in the 2018/2019 academic year for distribution.

Alhaji Tahiru Issahaku Moomin, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) who disclosed this at the first Town Hall Meeting in 2019, noted that general performance in the English Language was declining over the years.

It has therefore become necessary to strengthen the study of English Language at the basic school level to provide a proper foundation for the future, he said.

The importance of education to societal transformation could not be over emphasized, he said, hence the decision of the Assembly to commit a chunk of its resources to partner the Ghana Education Service (GES) to establish a vibrant integrated educational programme with the view to ensuring quality education for all within the Municipality.

On classroom infrastructure, the MCE noted that the Assembly had embarked on a total of 16 projects ranging from two-Unit, three-Unit, and six-Unit Classroom Blocks across various communities within the Municipality, some of which are in use while others were in various stages of completion.

The projects were funded by the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF), the Urban Development Grant (UDG), Ministry of Education, District Development Facility (DDF), and Social Investment Fund (SIF).

According to Alhaji Moomin, the remarkable achievement in the education sector had not only motivated pupils to learn harder but had also led to unprecedented high levels of both enrolment and retention of pupils and teachers in the school system.

He said apart from the provision of school infrastructure, the Assembly also supported the Municipal Directorate of Education to carry out some activities to help reverse the falling standards of education in the Municipality.

The activities included the organisation of mock exams for all Junior High School candidates, criterion reference test in Mathematics and English for selected class two kids, and conducted School Performance Appraisal Meetings in (SPAM) schools among others.

As a result of the pragmatic measures put in place, he said, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) performance has jumped from 46 percent in the 2016/2017 academic year to 75.7 percent in the 2017/2018 academic year.

Alhaji Moomin noted that two years into the implementation of the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy, intake into the second cycle schools within the Municipality increased by 29.8 percent.

The Town Hall Meeting was organized by the Municipal Assembly in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with support from Action for Sustainable Development (ASUDEV) and Community Development Alliance (CDA).

The meeting which afforded the Assembly the opportunity to account for the people was widely attended by market women, drivers, leaders of the Ghana Private Roads and Transport Union (GPRTU), Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), and Heads of Departments including; security services among others.