Stakeholders involved in education and other influential members of the society have been blamed for the consistent poor performance of students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination, (BECE) in the Northern region.

They were blamed for the lack of commitment to carry out reforms and for interfering in the postings of teachers or their transfers on disciplinary grounds.

Mr Musah Alhassan Jawula, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Northern Network for Education and Development (NNED) and other participants, made these observations at a day’s forum organized by NNED on Thursday in Tamale , to identify the causes of poor performance of students in the BECE examination in the Region and to help find solutions to them.

The NNED is a a network of Civil Society Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations and individuals dedicated to advocating for equitable access to quality education for all.

Mr Jawula noted that while schools in the rural areas lacked teachers, particularly qualified ones, the urban centers, especially Tamale, had some schools which were over staffed.

He said the reason for this situation was due to interference from some influential members of the society who came to plead with the education authorities not to post their wards, relations or friends to the rural areas.

“The education of our children is a collective responsibility”, he said,but also blamed parents for being part of the problem since they failed to monitor the performance of their children and left everything in the hands of the teachers" he said.

Alhaji Abdul Rahaman, Metropolitan Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and a former District Director at the Zabzugu/Tatale District, which performed very well in the BECE, briefed the participants on the various measures and interventions he undertook to improve upon the performance in the district.

He said, he held regular meetings with the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) ,the School Management Committee (SMC) and opinion leaders in the community, adding that the District Assembly and World Vision were of great assistance as they took up the challenge and cooperated with the district directorate of education.

In a presentation made by Mr Dari Dramani, Ghana Education Service Coordinator in-charge of Second- Cycle Schools and NGOs, said the Northern Region had not fared well in the BECE examination as compared to some other parts of the nation, but added that all the same the performance had been remarkably stable with an average of about 40 per cent.

He said the Management of the GES had put in measures to help push up the performance and noted that, the Nanumba North District ranked 8th in the 2011 BECE nationwide with 83.41 per cent pass, while some districts such as Zabzugu/Tatale, Bunkpurugu/ Yonyoo, Central Gonja and West Mamprusi also performed creditably by scoring above and close to the national pass rate of 59.45 per cent.**