By Mohamed T Massaquoi
The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Education in Pujehun District says the standard of education has improved in the district. Alie H.B Kargbo said that for the past three years he had engaged in effective monitoring with his team to ensure that the level of education was improved.
He also said evidence of this was demonstrated in the last public examination results of pupils in the district.
“The good performance of pupils in public examination is as a result of the hard work and commitment of teachers and the principals of the various schools in the district including the vigorous monitoring and supervision of teachers by the education ministry,” Kargbo said in an interview.
Kargbo claimed that his ministry had always ensured that teachers received their salaries on time as a means of encouraging them for effective teaching. He said the District Education office had been distributing teaching and learning materials at an appreciable quantity to boost effective learning in the schools within the district.
However, the education official called on pupils to stay away from social lifestyles that had the potential to hinder their progress in schools.
He said pupils should concentrate on activities that promoted critical thinking and help them understand their school work.
He said he had been collaborating with stakeholders to ensure that the education infrastructures within the district continue to improve.
However, despite this progress as highlighted by Mr Kargbo, there is widespread concern about the attitude of children of school going age in the district which has been attributed to a high rate of school dropouts.
Edison Mustapha Minah, the head of department of Geography and Vice Principal at the Saint Paul’s Secondary School, observed that a huge number of pupils had dropped out of school to engage in sand and stone mining. He noted that during the dry season most of the pupils engage in such mining activities to bring income to their families.
He warned that although sand and stone mining were valuable sources of income, pupils should not abandon their school for such activities.
He said one way to solve this problem would be to ensure income generated from the mining sector through tax be used to plough back in the society. He called on the district council to put measures in place to ensure this.
Joseph Victor E. Moore, a senior teacher at the Holy Rosary Secondary School in Pujehun town, said they had been doing well at the West African Senior Secondary School Examination and that they even had a student who scored seven credits in the past exams. He said they achieved this largely by exposing their pupils to effective reading especially in their school library and noted that they were determined for much improvement in upcoming exams.
Akayson Sesay, a community stakeholder and a parent, also told Politico that there had been much improvement in the education system since last year. He said this was more noticeable at the junior secondary school level as indicated by the performance of the pupils in the Basic Education Certificate Examination. He said from what he had been observing in the district regarding the conditions that were set by the government for pupils to take the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, all the pupils in SSS one were qualified to take their WASSCE.
Sesay commended the teachers in the entire district for their frantic efforts in ensuring the rapid improvement in the academic arena.
He also had some praises for the Education ministry which had been vigilant in their supervision to see that teachers were playing their role in line of promoting quality education.
Sesay said more teachers had been approved in the district as a result of the efforts of the Education ministry.
The Principal of Saint Paul's Secondary School, situated in the township of Pujehun, Foday Massaquoi, also told Politico that there had been much improvement in the academic arena especially as demonstrated in the performance of pupils in public examinations. He said that this is as a result of the commitment of his teachers and the fact that pupils treat their academic work with seriousness.
Massaquoi said he has 36 teachers in his school, among which are 18 university graduates.
“My teachers are really determined in given the best lectures, coupled with the willingness of the students," he said.
Massaquoi said last year 13 pupils represented the school in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSSCE) and that four of them attained university entry requirements. Entry into university, he said, had been a task they had struggled many years to attain.
The same year Saint Paul sent in 145 pupils for the Basic Education Certificate Examination, of which only three failed.
Principal Massaquoi said they have received a lot teaching and learning materials from the Education ministry in the form of support to improving on the educational system in the district. He said the ministry was able to approve eight of his teachers this year, graduates from various universities across the country. He said the only problem faced by the school is that parents were not normally willing to buy text books for their children.
(C) Politico 11/05/16
