Ban On Children Attending Wake-Keeping Improving BECE Results

A ban on school children from attending wake-keeping in the Akrofuom District in the Ashanti Region is positively reflecting on the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results, the District Education Directorate has announced.

Mr George Sarfo Kantanka, the District Director of Education who made the disclosure, said the ban was yielding results and must be sustained to improve learning outcomes in the district.

The Director, who made a presentation on education in the district at a stakeholders’ meeting on education, said there had been a remarkable improvement in BECE results since the Assembly’s decision to restrict children from leaving home at night.

The meeting followed a day’s working visit by Mr Collins Augustine Ntim, the Deputy Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, aimed at monitoring the implementation of all flagship programmes of the government.

Mr Sarfo Kantaka revealed that 83.5 per cent of 813 candidates presented for the BECE in 2021 passed, adding that the Directorate was targeting 88.5 per cent this year.

He said enrolment in senior high schools in the district had seen an astronomical increase from 300 in 2016 to 1,479 in 2022 due to the introduction of the Free Senior High School Policy.

“These statistics lend credence to the impact the Free Senior High School has made on student enrolment. We commend the Government for such a transformational policy, the Education Director observed,” Mr. Sarfo Kantanka said.

The Deputy Minister praised Mr Maurice Jonas Woode, the District Chief Executive and his team of technocrats for taking steps to improve education and other sectors in the district.

 He said though the district was relatively new,  the DCE had spearheaded the transformation of the education sector through investment in infrastructure and implementation of educational improvement projects. 

He, however, appealed to the assembly to consider investing more in the agricultural sector since most of the people in the district were into agriculture.

He used the opportunity to highlight the benefits and importance of the government's various flagship programmes such as Planting for Food and Jobs, Planting for Exports and Rural Development, One District One Factory, Free Senior High School among others.

The DCE applauded the Deputy Minister for visiting the district and assured him of the assembly’s commitment to developing the district in line with the vision of the President.