A number of final year basic school students in the Akatsi-North District are said to have stopped attending classes shortly after registering for the 2014 BECE examinations.
Mrs Kate Mikado, District Education Director announced this at a crunch meeting organized by the education directorate for Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and School Management Committees (SMCs) in the area at Ave-Dakpa
She said the numbers were high but was not specific.
Mrs Mikado said the impression was that registration for the BECE was more an achievement than passing the exams and so all pre-examination preparations did not matter.
The meeting was to gain the support of the PTAs and SMCs to help bring the students back to school to prepare for the exams.
Mrs Mikado said addressing the situation was urgent, without which the district could be heading for another BECE result debacle.
The attitude of the students and their parents to the examinations must change, she stated.
She said with its 17.4% performance, the district was second to last in the 2013 BECE performance ladder in the Volta Region.
Mrs Mikado entreated the PTAs, SMCs, communities and all stakeholders to wake up to their roles.
She announced the launch of a Reading Project, to make many as possible in each class, from kindergarten to junior high school, to read fluently, as the inability to read had been identified as a major problem in the region.
She said the regional basic school mock would take off soon and urged teachers to work hard, engaging the finalists with regular assignments.
Mr Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, Akatsi North Member of Parliament (MP) said lack of academic progress in the area had consequences for the area�s progress.
He wondered what had become of some parents and school pupils to not take schooling seriously at the time when social life and school environment were improving.
Mr James Gunu, Akatsi North District Executive said his outfit�s suspension of the Teacher Awards Day, for the reason that there was nothing to show for education, was a wake-up call for all to work hard.
He said the district in collaboration with the MP would subsidize cost of the regional mock examinations for final year students in the area.
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