The Board Chairman of the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), Mr. Alhassan Andani, has blamed the elite northerners and other influential indigenes in higher leadership positions for the huge development imbalance in the three Northern Regions.
According to Mr. Andani also the Managing Director of Stanbic Bank Ghana, southerners who were sent to the northern sector as heads of departments, schools, hospitals and other state agencies, during the colonial days, gave out their best and served the region selflessly, but northerners who took over from them shortly after independence had since been working against the development of the area.
Speaking at a two day symposium on education in Tamale, Mr. Andani bemoaned that the standard of education in the north had continued to decline steadily over the years, as a result of the continuous poor performance of most indigene heads of educational institutions.
The Board Chairman of SADA therefore challenged Northerners who are currently in responsible positions in the area of education to begin to do self retrospections. Adding that, “whatever policies that government after government would bring, if we (Northerners) do not change our attitude, the needed development would still not come”.
At the moment, there is a growing concern from stakeholders about the abysmal performance of schools in the three northern regions especially in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Even though some stakeholders have also criticized successive government for failing to provide the requisite educational infrastructure to motivate teaching and learning, majority of them (stakeholders) also blamed the issue on the ineffectiveness of heads of schools, and the general issue of poor monitoring and supervision.
A research has however shown that, 58.5% and 60.3% of candidates in the Northern Region failed in mathematics and English in the 2008 and 2009 BECE whereas only 10% of primary six pupils could read with understanding.
Also, completion rates at Junior High School level are far lower than the national average. Completion rates for boys are 67& and 52.5% for girls, it indicated.
The Northern, Upper East and Upper East Regions have only 33%,46% and 49% of trained teachers respectively.
But, Mr. Eric Duorinaah, the Programme Coordinator of Tackling Educational Needs Inclusively (TENI), (a five year project under VSO) vehemently blamed the performance of the schools on Circuit Supervisors in the regions who are reportedly refusing to perform their task.
According to him, his office had received several complaints from heads of schools and some PTA members about some Circuit Supervisors who had for months or years now been relying on mobile phones to solicit information or receive reports about what goes on in the various schools, instead of embarking on surprise visits to the schools. This he said had promoted laziness, teacher absenteeism and inefficiency.
He called for a shift from the conventional way of managing education in country, to a more systemic, joint action between government and civil society organizations.
The symposium which aimed at reviewing the performance of schools in the Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions in the BECE, is part of VSO's five year education project dubbed “Tackling Educational Needs Inclusively (TENI)”. The project is expected to benefit about 48,000 children, 2000 teachers and 25,000 parents in three districts namely Jirapa, Talensi-Nabdam and West Mamprusi.
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