JHS heads uncertain on mode of assessment for 2010 BECE

Cape Coast, July 15, GNA - Mr Anthony Kommeh, Headmaster of the University Junior High School, University of Cape Coast, has said heads of junior high schools are uncertain about the mode of assessment for candidates of the 2010 Basic Education Certificate examination (BECE) under the New Educational Reforms.

He said persistent efforts by most of the school heads to get detailed information on how candidates would be assessed have proved futile, although junior high schools have less than 10 months to prepare the first batch of students for the examination under the new reform. The Headmaster raised the concern at the 10th Speech and Prize Giving Day of the School.

Mr Kommeh appealed to the Ghana Education Service, the West Africa Examinations Council and the Curriculum Research and Development Division to communicate the nature and conduct of the internal and external assessment of candidates as far as the school based assessment, continuous assessment and the BECE were concerned.

Mr Kommeh questioned for instance how the Information Communication Technology (ICT) paper would be assessed, whether it would be based on theory or practical and called on all stakeholders in the education sector to assist in addressing the problem to ensure that the education reform realised its objectives.

Touching on the achievements of his school Mr Kommeh said the University JHS recorded 100 per cent pass in the 2008 BECE and was looking forward to a more impressive performance this year. He attributed the school's success to discipline and hard work by both teachers and students, adding that it had also established a learning laboratory to encourage learning and morality among students and appealed for financial support to construct other subject laboratories.

Mr Anthony Egyir Aikins, Metropolitan Chief Executive of Cape Coast, in a speech read for him, announced plans by the Assembly and the Metro Education Directorate to provide intensive computer training to about 1,000 JHS pupils next month. Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast (UCC), also advised the students to study hard and eschew negative attitudes to safeguard a bright future. 15-07-09