Inadequate contact hours in teaching and learning between teachers and students is contributing to the low academic performance of students in public basic schools, the Chief Executive Officer of Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA), Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, has said.

Commissioning a fully furnished nine-unit classroom block at Adjei Kojo, a suburb of Tema last Friday, Mr. Odamtten noted that a holistic approach towards the improvement of standard of education and academic performance in basic schools, included long hours in school to enable teachers to cover the Ghana Education Service (GES) syllabi and provide the opportunity for pupils to also understand, grasp and assimilate the concepts.

The TMA boss also performed a ground breaking ceremony at the same venue to mark the beginning of the construction of a twelve-unit two storey classroom block and a twenty seater water closet toilet facility scheduled to be completed in three months.

The project, according to Mr. Odamtten formed part of the Industrial City Basic Schools project aimed at ending the morning and afternoon shift system to enhance academic performance in the metropolis as well as depopulate the class sizes to ensure effective management of the classes by teachers.

He urged parents to effectively collaborate with teachers in monitoring and supervising the pupils in their social and academic lives to enable them become to responsible adults.

In a related development, ground was also broken for the construction of a police post to help address security challenges in the area.

The assembly man for the area, Mr. Romeo Akahoho, confirmed that there had been rampant armed robberies in the vicinity which created fear among the inhabitants and posed threat to their lives hence the need for the police post to clamp down on such activities in the area.

The Chief of Adjei Kojo, Nii Adjei Adjetey, lauded the initiatives and urged the residents to collectively protect and maintain the facilities.