Mfanibu (Ash), Sept 25, GNA – Parents at Mfanibu near Manfo and its environs in the Ahafo-Ano North District have threatened to withdraw their children from the local Junior Secondary School (JSS) for poor Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results. They said in the 2005 BECE examination, only two out of the 38 candidates passed with aggregate 15 and 27, representing five per cent pass and attributed this to the fact that the examination centre is at Mabang, about 16 kilometres from the town.
At a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting last Tuesday, the parents resolved to withdraw their children from the school unless their wards are permitted to use Manfo, which is a walking distance, as their examination centre.
A spokesperson of the parents, Mr Kwasi Abebrese, told newsmen that for the past six years, they have had to make provisions for feeding, accommodation, transport and pay light bill for the six days that the pupils spend at Mabang Secondary-Technical School for the examination. That apart from the financial burden on parents, the long distance negatively affects the performances of the children. When newsmen contacted the Headmaster of the school, Mr Patrick Boakye, he confirmed the concern of the parents and said since the school re-opened last Tuesday, 30 out of the 110 pupils have been withdrawn from the school while the 36 candidates who failed in the 2005 BECE have gone to schools at Dwaaho and Manfo.
He said for the past six years, the BECE examination results of the school has not been impressive due to the long distance of the examination centre and appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to allow them to take the examination at the Manfo centre which is only two kilometres away. The percentage passed in the school for the past six years are as follows, 2000, four per cent, 2001, 58 per cent, 2002, 14 per cent, 2003, 12 per cent, 2004, 25 per cent and 2005, the five per cent. 25 Sept 05
Source: GhanaWeb
