Hajia Amina Musah, an educationist has expressed worry over the poor academic performance of some second-cycle institutions in the Northern Region.
She attributed the situation to indiscipline amongst students, parental neglect, some form of community interference in academic activities amongst others.
She, therefore, appealed to community leaders to collaborate with stakeholders to instill discipline in students to curb the menace of poor performance in second-cycle institutions.
Hajia Musah was speaking at a youth education dialogue on the poor learning outcomes consistently recorded in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
The dialogue, organised by the Northern Regional Youth Network in collaboration with YEFL- GHANA, and OXFAM in Ghana, both non-governmental organisations, brought together key stakeholders in the educational sector and students to deliberate on the fallen standard of education in the Northern Region.
It served as a platform for young people and stakeholders to access the outcomes and trends in academic performance amongst the various Senior High Schools in the WASSCE.
It was to pool the unique energies and expertise of the youth, authorities, and duty-bearers to improve on the poor learning outcomes recorded by the second-cycle institutions.
Madam Ayisha Mohammed, Deputy Public Relations Officer, Northern Regional Youth Network, who made a presentation on education performance, said “According to statistics from the 2019 National WASSCE data on school performance, the best northern schools ranked 139th on the national rankings.
Only about 10 per cent of students in the Northern Region passed the WASSCE on average, and in terms of absolute numbers, only 1,387 had passed the WASSCE examinations out of the total number of 15,093 students that sat for the examinations.
Madam Vera Jawol Magan, Executive Director of YEFL – GHANA said the dialogue was to spark a regional debate and action by key stakeholders in the educational sector on the urgent need to improve the performance of students to strengthen the standard of education in the country.
Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, whose speech was read on his behalf, lauded the efforts of the youth in ensuring that key actors in the sector would prioritise the importance of education to nation-building, and assured them of the government’s commitment to uplift the standards of education in the country.
Master Machante Evans Kwabena, a Student of St Charles Minor Seminary Senior High School in Tamale, appealed to the government and other stakeholders to improve the educational infrastructure in the region to enable students to concentrate on their academic activities to change the current narrative.
