One of the key components contributing to the successes achieved by private basic schools in the country’s Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) was effective supervision.
Apart from that, more instructional hours given to pupils, the “business-minded” approach to the running of the schools, coupled with the provision of basic tools for teaching and learning, are the factors which ensure excellent results in most private schools compared to those in the public sector.
Pastor Paul Abaidoo, Managing Proprietor of Pastor Abaidoo Preparatory and Junior High School in Accra made these assertions in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on why public basic schools with more qualified teachers compared to those in the private schools, did not have good BECE results as compared to the private schools
Pastor Abaidoo also claimed that motivation given to both teaching and non-teaching staff are other reasons which ensure the success story of private schools.
Parents of wards in private schools he said ensured that their children approach their studies with a lot of seriousness because of the huge financial investments made in them compared to those in the public schools.
Pastor Abaidoo, a retired educationist who is the Greater Accra Regional Treasurer of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (NASPA) said after teaching in public schools for about 25 years before founding his school, he realized that he had to give his staff an entirely new orientation if he was to succeed.
In a private school, he said a proprietor would not tolerate a lazy and inefficient teacher since survival and growth of the school would be dependent largely on excellent results, so staff always had to ensure that they did their best to produce the desired results.
Situated at Odorkor Otaten, the school which was established with seven children currently has 450 pupils from kindergarten one to Junior High School (JHS) three. The school has been scoring 100 per cent passes in the BECE with a lot of the pupils obtaining aggregate 06, according to Pastor Abaidoo.
To help the children develop interest in Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) education he said, the school has a modern computer laboratory connected to the internet where the pupils are given tuition in basic ICT studies.
Pastor Abaidoo disclosed that a unique component of the ICT training was that the children were introduced to computer studies from Kindergarten one, with the help of a special software, and by the time they reach JHS three, they would have acquired a lot of skills and knowledge on the use of the computer.
A major challenge confronting the school he said was the difficulty of some parents and guardians to pay their wards school fees, which sometimes affect the smooth running of the school.
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