By Charles Chedar / Ruth Mintaa, GNA
Wa, July 20, GNA – Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) performance in the Wa Municipality has increased from 46 per cent in the 2016/2017 academic year to 75.7 per cent in the 2017 / 2018 academic year.
This, Alhaji Tahiru Issahaku Moomin, the Wa Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), said was due to the prioritization of basic education by the central government and the Municipal Assembly which resulted in the massive investment in the sector.
Alhaji Moomin, who was speaking during the first edition of the « Meet the Press » series for Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West Region, noted that investing in quality education would help equip the youth with the requisite knowledge, skills and attitude to compete with the best in the country.
“Wa Municipal Assembly have invested much in basic education with the singular objective of ensuring that pupils in the municipality excel in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) so that they can take advantage of the Free Senior High School Programme”, the MCE said.
The aim of the forum was to foster closer relations between the media and the Assembly to better educate and inform the people of the Municipality on the implementation of government policies and programmes.
The MCE said the Assembly introduce a project dubbed « One Pupil, One Dictionary » which has so far seen the distribution of 7,000 pieces of dictionaries among basic school students in the 2017 / 2018 academic year.
Alhaji Moomin said the remarkable achievement in the educational field has not only motivated pupils in the various schools within the Municipality to learn harder but has led to unprecedented high levels of both enrolment and retention of pupils and teachers in the school system.
He said the assembly in a sustained collaboration between the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), Urban Development Grant (UDG), Ministry of Education, Districts Development Facility (DDF) and Social Investment Fund (SIF), built many school structures and furnished them.
Dr Hafiz Bin-Salih, the Upper West Regional Minister, the Press, Heads of Departments and individual members of the public participated in the maiden meet the press series in Wa.
