The Eastern Region recorded a decline in gross school enrolment for the 2011/2012 academic year at the basic level; research by the Education Management Information System(EMIS) Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has shown.

At the kindergarten level, gross enrolment declined from 100.5% in the 2009/2010 academic year to 99.2% in 2011/2012 academic year.

At the primary school level, gross enrolment declined from 86.0% in 2008/2009 academic year to 68.7% at the 2011/2012 academic year.

At the Junior High School (JHS) Level, gross enrolment declined from 73.3% in 2009/2010 to 71.2% at the 2011/2012 academic year.

This came out at the formal opening of this year’s Eastern Region Annual Education Sector Review Workshop in Koforidua on Thursday.

The two-day workshop was being attended by all stakeholders in education in the Region including District Directors of Education, heads of schools, traditional authorities, representatives of Parent/Teacher Associations, School Management Committees, District Assemblies and policy makers in the education sector.

The workshop was to review the overall performance in education in the region, consolidate the gains made and strategize towards better delivery in the ensuing year.

The Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Ebenezer Okletey Terlabi, opened the workshop and urged the GES to consider how to deal with the situation where teachers pursuing further studies use school hours to organize group discussions among their colleagues at the expense of teaching the students.

Mr. Terlabi appealed to the GES to redress the situation where many teachers were pursuing further studies in subjects that would not enhance their teaching carrier and performance in the classroom.

Mr Atta Gyemfi, Deputy Director of Education, called for the involvement of all stakeholders in education in efforts at improving quality education.

He also called for efforts at improving early childhood education and making it accessible to children, especially those staying in difficult circumstances.

The Eastern Regional Director of Education, Ms Adriana Kandilige, explained that the workshop would be used as a forum to review the annual education performance reports of Municipal and District Assemblies in the region.

She said the workshop would also discuss school management issues, impact of various interventions, capacity strengthening and the activities of district oversight committees.**