An aspiring Member of Parliament (MP) for the Shai Osudoku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region has instituted a scholarship scheme for brilliant BECE candidates in his constituency who record single digits in the upcoming examination.

The successful students who score aggregates of 06, 07, 08, and 09 will enjoy Mr. Benjamin Nargeh’s special intervention to pursue senior high school education in the respective senior high schools where they will be placed.

The Parliamentary Candidate (PC) made the announcement during a special engagement session facilitated by the Shai Osudoku Education Directorate with this year’s over 2,000 BECE candidates across the constituency to prepare the students ahead of the examinations.

The preparation of the students comes ahead of the external exams from July 8 to July 12.

Mr. Nargeh explained that the initiative was to cushion successful students who excel in pursuing and attaining their academic goals.

"For Shai Osudoku to also stand out when it comes to education, my team and I put ourselves together to institute a scholarship scheme," explained the PC, adding that the scheme isn't only for the 2024 BECE but for future candidates as well. "This isn't just a scheme for 2024 but for subsequent years."

He furthered: "Those who'll record single digits from aggregate six to nine... the scholarship scheme is going to sponsor their education for SHS.”

Mr. Nargeh, dissatisfied with the past performances of candidates in the external examination, explained that the situation pushed him to launch the intervention.

"Most times, our target hasn't been the best; two years ago, we scored 47%; last year was 67%. This year, the education director has announced that she's raising the bar to 75%, and I was encouraged that by joining hands with the director, we could even surpass the 75% target," Mr. Nargeh emphasized.

Underscoring the essence of education, the aspiring MP said his gesture was in line with President Akufo-Addo's free SHS policy to ensure that the students are well-prepared to take advantage of the policy.

For the students to succeed in the upcoming exam, the NPP PC encouraged them to be confident, as they were capable of rubbing shoulders with their colleagues from other schools in the country.

As part of preparing the students for the exams, seasoned examiners took them through the right approaches to writing the examination and answering questions appropriately.

Shai Osudoku Director of Education, Harriet Lomotey, noting the main motivation behind the activity, explained that the need to engage the students came as a result of the fallout from the engagements with the students.

“We have to prepare the learners, especially for this exam. We’re looking at the preparedness of the learners; we’ve gone through a lot; we’ve done our tri-weekly exams; we’ve also done the weekly mock; and we’ve analyzed all these exams. We noticed that there’s a need to fill certain gaps,” said the director.

She identified the major gap as the students' approach to answering questions. To address the challenge, a team of examiners participated in preparing the students by taking them through the right procedures and approaches to answering the questions.

“We put together all these examiners, and we decided that they'd come and support them and give them the environment of answering questions because we noticed that the approach was not good, so with this, we’ve been able to answer questions and answer them appropriately,” she added.

The directorate has set a 75% pass target for the candidates.

The target follows a steady improvement in the performance of the candidates, improving from 47% in 2022 to 67% in 2023.