Atebubu-Amanten DCE advocates performance agreement contract for teachers

The District Chief Executive for Atebubu-Amanten, Mr. Sampson Owusu Boateng has advocated for a performance agreement contract between teachers and the Ghana Education Service which will hold teachers to some standards in the performance of their duties.

The DCE who made the suggestion at a school performance review meeting in Atebubu to review performance of basic schools in the 2013 academic year debunked the notion that today’s children do not take interest in education and compared the present situation to his time when they had no electricity, good buildings and qualified teachers yet performed well academically.

The DCE who is a professional teacher himself traced the falling standards of education to teachers being self centered rather than child centered. He also identified a lack of appropriate supervision on the part of circuit supervisors and head teachers as one of the problems militating against education in the district.

Mr. Owusu Boateng urged teachers to vary their teaching methods to ensure that pupils easily grasp what they are taught.

Whiles reminding teachers that the basic education certificate examinations are no longer based on the G.E.S syllabus but that of the West African Examinations Council he promised to institute a scholarship scheme for pupils who score between aggregates 6 to 10 at the BECE as well as reward their schools.

The DCE disclosed that funds will soon be made available for the provision of classroom infrastructure for all kindergartens in the district.

The District Director of Education, Mr. Jokon Sulemana said the meeting was necessitated by the need to take stock of last year’s performance and to plan ahead.

He gave a rundown of statistics on BECE results nationwide all of which painted a gloomy picture of education at the basic level and said this makes it necessary for stakeholders to put their shoulders to the wheel to ensure that standards are improved in the district.

Mr. Jokon Sulemana identified ideal teacher-pupil relationship, effective supervision and teacher commitment as some key areas that would have to be worked on to improve education delivery in the district.

Participants were taken through the district education performance report for the last three years whiles a circuit supervisors report which identified various factors affecting education in all 6 circuits in the district was discussed.

Solutions to problems identified will be put into an action plan and a new performance target set for the 2014 B.E.C.E. Results for the last three years stand at 46%, 60.06% and 48.47% for 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively.

The meeting sponsored by the Global Partnership for Education Grant GPEG, attracted officials from the education directorate, the district assembly, members of the district education oversight committee, circuit supervisors, headmasters and representatives of school management committees and parent teacher association.