Press Statement From The Ministry Of Education.

National Mobilisation For Enhanced Performance In Basic Education Certificate Examination (Bece)

The Minister for Education, Honourable Betty Mould Idrisu, has set up a Task Force headed by her Deputy, Honourable Mahama Ayariga, to implement a number of measures expected to result in improved performance in the 2012 BECE.

As part of this exercise, Hon Mahama Ayariga will, from Thursday 8th to Sunday 18th December, 2011, tour the Northern Region, Upper East Region and Upper West Region to mobilise social and political support for the initiative to improve performance in BECE. The above three regions, and the northern parts of Brong Ahafo Region and Volta Region in particular recorded generally unimpressive performance hence the focus on these areas even though the exercise will be nationwide.

During the tour, Hon Mahama Ayariga will hold durbars with prospective BECE candidates for 2012, their teachers, GES district and regional directors, chiefs, religious leaders, opinion leaders and Metropolitan/Municipal/District Assemblies and their Education Oversight Committees to outline the measures to be implemented and solicit their inputs and support.

Some of the measures to be implemented to enhance better BECE performance are outlined below;

1. Assessment of teacher needs in various districts categorized by subject areas and placing emphasis on the core subjects;
An analysis of the results revealed that most of the districts performed badly in certain core subject areas accounting for the children not being able to obtain admission into Senior High Schools (SHS) because obtaining a grade 5 or better in those subjects is a prerequisite. Some districts revealed that they did not have both teachers and teaching and learning materials in these core subjects. All District/Municipal Directors are to carry out a school by school assessment of the teacher capacity and reveal existing gaps for the JHS 3 classes so that the teacher mobilization exercise is adequately targeted at filling those gaps. National service personnel will be reposted to schools in need and 5,000 volunteer teachers will be recruited and postings will target schools most in need.

2. Mobilization and posting/reposting of teachers and emergency/volunteer teachers to the districts with the support of the National Service Secretariat (NSS) and the District/Municipal/Metropolitan Assemblies in collaboration with the Regional Coordinating Councils;
District Directors in collaboration with Regional Directors shall present proposals for reposting of teachers from overstaffed schools to schools with a serious teacher deficit to handle their JHS 3 candidates. This arrangement could be temporary and can be terminated in May, 2012 after the examination. There will be collaboration with the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) to minimise dissent.
National Service Secretariat (NSS) in collaboration with GES shall recruit 5,000 teacher volunteers to support schools without teachers in relevant subject areas

3. Organise a Teaching Orientation Programme for the 5,000 Volunteer Teachers and the 36,000 National Service Personnel posted to the Education Sector for 2011/2012
With support from Volunteer Service Organisation (VSO), a teaching and pedagogical methods manual has been developed for all service personnel and volunteer teachers. The National service Personnel and volunteer teachers will be taken through orientation on teaching methods in all districts.

4. Extra Tuition Hours (2:2:6 formation) and Holidays Tuition
With support from parents, MOE, GETFund and Assemblies, we will implement a rigorous extra hours’ tuition programme of 2 hours after close of normal schooling hours. Students will be required to study for 2 hours in the morning before normal classes and 6 hours every Saturday. On Saturday the first 2 hours shall be dedicated to revision and 4 hours for actual teaching. This will be known as the 2:2:6 formations.
Design a national extra tuition programme for JHS 3 students during the Christmas holidays of December, 2011 at designated school clusters centres in all districts and assign dedicated and competent teachers/volunteers and have a well coordinated timetable for them with clear targets to be accomplished within the Christmas Holidays period.

5. A Lunch a Day for JHS 3 BECE Candidates and their Teachers
A lunch will be provided to the the JHS 3 candidates every day that they spend an additional 2 hours for extra tuition after normal school hours from 4pm to 6pm and every Saturday when there is a weekend tuition programme for the JHS 3 candidates. Agreement has been reached with the World Food Programme for provisions for JHS 3 candidates in the 3 northern regions but discussions are still on-going for candidates in the other regions. Hon Ofosu Ampofo, Local Govt Minister, has agreed to direct District/Metropolitan Assemblies to improve infrastructure (electricity, security, access roads, water etc) at designated holidays tuition clusters centres. These clusters centres can also serve as venues for JHS candidates who wish to study at night to have an opportunity to do so.

6. Get the teachers to optimise the use of the normal school hours so that the extra classes are only additional/complementary;
Headmasters, under the supervision of District Directors shall review individual schools’ programmes to facilitate the optimum utilisation of normal schooling hours to cover syllabi for JHS 3 BECE candidates and secure the cooperation of the candidate to meeting targets set by head teachers. Candidates shall be exempted from all extra curricula activities such as sports and cultural events that may take away valuable time from their study time.

7. Conduct a series of mock examinations in all the assisted districts to adequately prepare the students before the main examinations;
Develop an assessment test at the beginning of this exercise to determine present levels of candidates and to implement 2 mock BECEs in late February and mid-April to assess preparedness of candidates.

8. To mobilize on an emergency basis teaching and learning materials to assist this exercise
Determine the teaching and learning materials needed to aid this emergency examination preparation programme and to mobilise and procure and distribute T&L materials to targeted districts.

9. A National Social and Political Mobilization Exercise to Support Implementation of these Emergency Measures
We will carry out an extensive social mobilization effort to secure buy-in of various stakeholders including traditional rulers, parents, community leaders, local government authorities, teachers, civil society groups and students themselves to achieve the implementation of the measures outlined above.

10 Exploit the use of ICT and mobile telephony to implement these measures;
Consult with UNCEF/JICA and ICT and Telecommunications companies to explore the opportunities that exist to use ICT and mobile telephony to implement




HON. MAHAMA AYARIGA
DEPUTY MINISTER
FOR: HON. MINISTER FOR EDUCATION