For the past five years, no student of the Gomoa Dunkwa-Achiase District Assembly Junior High School (JHS) in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region, has passed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

During the period under review, no student had secured aggregate six to 30 to be qualified for short listing for admission to a senior high school. Mr Emmanuel Sagoe, an opinion leader and spokesperson for the school's Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) disclosed this at Gomoa Dunkwa, when Mr Theophilus Aidoo- Mensah, District Chief Executive (DCE) and some officials of the District Assembly, visited the JHS as part of an inspection tour of some on-going projects in the area.

The DCE interacted with the chiefs and elders from Gomoa Dunkwa and Achiase and the PTA, at a crisis meeting to find solution to the problem. Mr Sagoe who interacted with journalists described the situation as very disturbing.

"If for five continuous years none of our children had gained admission to a senior high school, then we don't have a future. Our future is bleak," he said.

Mr Sagoe said the meeting decided that the PTA should organise extra classes for the final year students and ensure that they were provided with the needed materials for learning. The students have also been banned from attending social activities such as video shows and malingering at night. Mr Aidoo-Mensah commended the chiefs and the PTA for taking the initiative to find solution to the problem.

He expressed joy that the meeting acknowledged that delivery of quality education was the shared responsibility of parents, teachers and students. "It is only when each plays his or her part well that good result can be obtained," he said. He urged the school authorities to furnish him with their problems to enable the district assembly to find solutions to them. Mr De Graft Bainson, Headmaster attributed the predicament to shortage of teachers in the school. He said only three teachers handled JHS one - three last year and said the shortage impacted negatively on teaching and learning.


Source: GNA/Ghana