Sunyani, Sept. 12, GNA- Four Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in Sunyani District scored zero percent in the 2002/2003 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Three of them, Ohukrom, Nkrankrom and Yaw Sae Local Authority schools, recorded the same poor performance last year, with Addae Boreso Local Authority being the new entrant.

The Rev Emmanuel Kusi, the Sunyani District Director of Education, expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the four schools and appealed to the communities in which the four schools are located to help improve the situation.

Rev. Kusi said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani on Friday.

He said lack of effective parental control, non-provision of educational needs by parents and poor academic work accounted for the poor performance of the children.

Rev Kusi said the district directorate will soon organize a forum for all stakeholders to discuss the declining standard of education especially in the basic level in some parts of the district. "Some teachers behave like the wheel-barrow that needs to be pushed before it can serve any useful purpose. If you push such teachers they will work, but leave them to act on their own and they will relax", he said.

He cited a school at Kodiwohia in the Asutifi District that was performing badly some years ago but when the district directorate focused its attention on it its performance improved. The school, which among those that scored zero percent in past examinations, scored 50 percent with some candidates obtaining aggregate 16.

Rev Kusi said to encourage teaching and learning of Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) in JSS and SSS, the directorate will institute inter-circuit competitions on the subjects and give awards to students who will excel. There will also be in-service training courses for STME teachers in both first and second-cycle schools in the district, he said.