Ahead of the conduct of the Basic Education Certificate Examination later in July, the Assembly Member for Soe-Yipaala Electoral Area in the Bolgatanga Municipality of the Upper East Region has spearheaded the organization of a school tour to encourage and challenge candidates from the community to improve performance.
As part of the exercise, various accomplished businessmen and women, individuals who have gone through the ladder of education took turns to address the candidates of St. Joseph Junior High School. Essentially, the interactions focused on the need for the candidates to improve upon the performance of the school.
The candidates who are readying themselves for the examination were then given mathematical sets, pens, pencils, and rulers to aid in their preparation and to encourage them to perform well.
Five best-performing candidates of the 2023 edition, who are currently in senior high school, received certificates, citations, and cash prizes.
The decision to award the best-performing students stems from a promise made by the Assembly Member that any candidate who obtained between aggregate 6 and 15 would be recognized and rewarded.
Explaining the essence of the exercise in an interview with Dreamz News, the Assembly Member, Justice Aduko noted that he was saddened by the dwindling performance of candidates from the community hence, the decision to turn his attention to education in the area.
He added that the promise to award the best performers has been repeated to challenge the current candidates to do better.
“Before I came to contest for the assembly elections, I observed a problem in the community that needed the attention of local developers. The problem was that academic performance was falling and the community was recording criminal activities so I realized that many students don’t do well at the BECE.
So, I started last year by donating mathematical sets and setting a performance target for 2023, and for the first time, we had a candidate getting an aggregate of 15. Hence, we decided to award the best 5 candidates. This year, we are keeping the same target of 6 to 15. We hope that this year, the candidates will do better.” He stressed.
Those currently preparing for this year’s BECE, are ready but feel challenged by the unavailability of computers and textbooks for learning.
Christiana Aberinga, the Senior Girls Prefect, decried the unavailability of textbooks. “We are grateful to the assembly member for the maths set, pens, and pencils but we do not have textbooks and a computer laboratory meanwhile, ICT is compulsory.” She lamented.
