Introduce re-sitting for BECE candidates

The Ministry of Education Science and Sports, the Ghana Education Service and the West African Examinations Council were called upon to introduce re-sitting programme for junior high school candidates who could not pass their Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE). Mr Bright Appiah, Executive Director for Children's Right International, a non-governmental organisation, who made the appeal at a press conference in Accra, said this was necessary to reduce school drop out rates, especially in rural areas. He suggested that district assemblies could be supported to provide tuition for those candidates who would re-sit the exams to make the objective of the new Educational reform achievable. "The curriculum should be revamped and inclined towards technology, teacher training and retention. Classrooms have to be transformed into child friendly spaces and safe for the best interest of the child, Mr Appiah said. He said the Government should also adopt a quota system to allow pupils from deprived schools to have admissions into the first class senior high schools to bridge the margin that existed in the Computerized School Selection Placement System. He stated that the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme were not enough to enable the country to attain the Education for All Goals by 2015 without a critical assessment to provide equal opportunities to pupils, regardless of their geographical location to further their education. "Out of the 124 countries, who have assigned themselves to attain the Education for All Goals, only four of them are reaching the goal. Ghana for that matter is part of the 121, who are not anywhere near its attainment," he said. Mr Appiah said there were some disparities in the education sector especially, between public and private schools, saying only 15 per cent of pupils from public schools were admitted into second cycle schools as compared to 75 per cent in the private schools.