Agona Kukurantumi (C/R), Sept 17, GNA - No junior high school final year student in the Agona Kukurantumi ADA School qualified to enter any second cycle institution over the past three years. Mr Lawrence Amedume, Head Master of the school, said this when Mr Jacob Felix Obeng-Forson, the Agona West Municipal Chief Executive, visited some of the Primary and Junior High Schools in the Municipality. He said candidates who sat the BECE in 2006, 2007 and 2008 scored zero percent.

The Head Master attributed the abysmal performance of the students to absenteeism and bad parental care because parents took the children to farms, markets and other jobs which prevented them from attending school regularly.

He said apart from parents' discouragement, some of the JHS final year students absented themselves for two weeks to sell coconut in Tema and Accra to raise money to cater for their needs. Mr Amedume said the teachers voluntarily organized extra classes for the students in order to improve their performances but they refused to patronize them.

Authorities of the schools also organized forums and used Parent/Teacher Association meetings to sensitize parents on the need to encourage their children to attend school regularly but this also failed.

Mr Amedume said if the poor academic performance of the students continued, the only option for him was to apply for a transfer from the school to avoid humiliation and disgrace. Nana Kwesi John, Chief of Kukurantumi, said the chiefs and elders had instituted bye-laws to ban school children from staying away from home after 2100 hours. Nana Yiadom Baokye, Headmaster of Agona Kwamang ADA JHS, appealed to the MCE and Ghana Education Directorate to re-roof the six classrooms which had their roofs ripped off during a rain storm about one-and-half-years ago.