By Mohammed Balu
Tumu ( UWR), Oct 16, GNA – Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, the Member of Parliament for Sissala East, has contributed Ghc30,000 in support of this year’s Teachers Awards to appreciate their efforts in national development.
In all, 34 teachers and pupils in the Sissala East Municipality received awards comprising a motorcycle, television sets, fridges, tablets, packets of zinc, wax prints, clocks, and citations.
Students who excelled in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and WASSCE, as well as non-teaching staff serving in the remotest parts of the municipality were also honoured.
Mr Jibiliru Nankpa, a teacher of the Tumu Demonstration Basic School, was adjudged the Municipal Best Teacher for 2023 and the National Best for the Junior High School (JHS) Category.
Mr Chinnia Issahaku congratulated the awardees for the hard work and urged stakeholders in education to put their shoulders to the wheel to change the unimpressive results witnessed in recent times at the BECE in the area.
He assured the continuous collaboration with teachers to ensure the best outcomes.
Speaking on the theme: “Managing Education Recovery after COVID: The Role of the Stakeholders”, the guest speaker, Professor Issaka Kanton Osumanu, a Lecturer at the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies, (UBIDS) said similar to what had been learned in previous pandemics, preparedness was crucial.
He urged educational administrators and policymakers to use the crisis as an opportunity to introduce new learning models.
He emphasised the need for a resilient education system, which could be achieved through multi-stakeholder involvement including families, communities, healthcare providers, the private sector, and social protection agencies, laced with the use of technology.
Mr Lewil Charles, the Municipal Director of Education, in a speech read on his behalf, said 201 pre-tertiary schools made up of 67 kindergartens, 67 primary, 62 JHS, four senior high and technical schools, and one TVET were in the Municipality.
Some of the schools had inadequate and dilapidated classrooms, especially with the KG, where most of them sat under trees to learn, he said.
“For the BECE, the performance has been below average for the past eight years with a pass rate of 14 per cent for 2022 at the BECE level with the second cycle level seeing a dip from 58 per cent in 2021 to 52 per cent in 2022.
GNA