Asuofua(Ash), Nov.18, GNA - Enrolment in the Asuofua basic school in the Atwima-Nwabiagya district of Ashanti rose from 1,472 last year to 2,236 this year, an increase of more than 34 per cent as a result of the Government's fee-free education policy.

Mr Jones Arthur, headteacher of the school, said as a result of the high enrolment rate, the teaching staff had also increased from 53 to 62.

Mr Arthur announced this when delivering the school's situational report at its first Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting for the year at Asuofua.

He said out of the 287 candidates presented for the 2005 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), 276 gained admissions into some first class senior secondary schools.

Some of the schools were, Achimota College, Holy Child, Wesley Girls, Prempeh College, Opoku Ware, Mfantsipim, Adisadel College, Kumasi Ahmadiyya and Yaa Asantewaa while 11 others were admitted into some less endowed schools.

Last year, Mr Arthur said the school received 200 dual desks from the Department for International Development (DFID) of Britain and another 90 dual desks from the Otumfuo Education Fund. He identified persistent encroachment of school lands, invasion of school premises by drug peddlers and addicts, stealing and pilfering of school furniture and inadequate toilet facilities as the major problems affecting the school and appealed to the district assembly to help address them.

Mr Baffour Asare-Bediako, Assistant Director of Education at the District Education Directorate, commended the teachers for their hard work, which had greatly improved discipline and academic output of the school.

He attributed the school's academic achievement to the collaborative effort of the teachers and parents and therefore, called for closer co-operation among stakeholders to enhance teaching and learning.

Mr Asare-Bediako said the directorate had intensified its supervision and monitoring role to improve upon performance. Mr Emmanuel Kwabena Opoku, the PTA chairman, said the association was constructing additional two classrooms, an office and a store estimated at over 120 million cedis for the school.

The project, he said, is being supported with building materials by Nana Owusu Kese, a British national, and Nkosuohene of Asuofua. The PTA has so far spent over 16.5 million cedis on the project.