About 24,000
pupils from 120 basic schools in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region
were unable to write their end-of-term examinations because the examination
papers could not be printed due to a lack of funds.
According to Bosomtwe District Director of
Education William Awuni, both teachers and pupils in the district had
adequately prepared for the examination but a delay in releasing a capitation
prevented them from participating in the examination.
He said that this is the second time that a delay
in the release of funds has prevented exams from being printed and therefore
taken, explaining that a similar incident occurred in 2011.
While expressing concern over the situation, Mr
Awuni noted that the Education Directorate received its capitation grant of
GH¢35,000 when schools were preparing to vacate.
He said the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools
(CHOBS) in the district, together with the District Directorate of Education
and the Bosomtwe District Assembly, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) that allowed pupils in the district to write a common examination.
That, according to him, was to standardise and
streamline teaching and learning activities in the district.
He said they further agreed not to collect any levy
from the pupils in the form of examination fees but rather use part of the
capitation grant to print the examination questions.
The district director further explained that prior
to the signing of the MoU, teachers were sacking pupils for their failure to
pay printing fees, a situation that created truancy and undermined academic
work.
Asked when the pupils would be assessed, Mr Awuni
said that now that the money had been released, all pupils will write their
examinations in January next year.
District Chief Executive Edward Nti Berko confirmed
that the assembly had received a budget of GH¢27,000 for the printing of
examination papers.
Some of the pupils who spoke to the Daily Graphic
expressed concern over the postponement of their examination, explaining that
under the circumstances, they would have to use time meant for academic work to
write the examination.
"Teachers use periods supposed for the
teaching of new topics to supervise examination, mark examination papers and
prepare reports. This seriously affects academic work," they complained.
From: Daily Graphic
No comments:
Post a Comment