Wa, Sept. 6, GNA – The Bayiila Talent Development Center (BATADEC), an NGO has organised an academic seminar for Junior High School (JHS) students in the Wa Municipality, aimed at helping them set their academic goals, select their career paths and improve on their learning outcomes.
Mr Bayugo Bayiila Tanko, the Executive Director of BATADEC speaking to the GNA after the programme, noted that the seminar became necessary following a survey that revealed some learning frustrations among JHS students in the Wa Municipality.
“BATADEC conducted an educational survey to find out how students at the JHS level have been fairing in their learning and it is established that pupils at this level have some learning frustrations and challenges, hence culminating in their poor performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE),” he said.
He noted that the seminar dubbed: “Being a Successful JHS Student”, was focused on guiding the students on five thematic areas including career guidance and selection; setting academic goals; 10 positive learning habits of a successful student; keeping what you learned in memory; and learning mathematics.
On career guidance and selection, Mr Tanko noted that they realized that about 85 per cent of the students they spoke to during the survey, did not even understand what a career was and therefore have not selected one yet.
“They are just learning without knowing, which direction they are going and that is the reason why we have the career selection guidance,” he said.
He said many of the students were also just learning without goals and it was important for them to know their goals to serve as guide for them during studies.
The Executive Director of BATADEC said the students were also taken through ten positive learning habits to enable them learn how to maximize their learning and that should they follow them, it would trigger positive performance.
He said almost 90 per cent of JHS students within the target area shared their frustrations in learning mathematics as a subject and that the topic on how to learn mathematics was to get the fear of studying mathematics out of the students to help them learn and perform well in their main examinations.
Mr Tanko said they took the students through practical strategies of improving upon one’s memory because about 70 per cent of students usually found it difficult to recall what they studied.
He said they expect the 635 participants to put into practice the things they took them through at the seminar to overcome their learning challenges and improve upon their academic performance.
GNA