Kpano School Tops Quiz Competition By World Vision-Ghana

Exec. Dir. Bibir, J.C. Osei

NANTON, SAVELUGU-NANTON– If teachers and other stakeholders in education could spend quality time with deprived school children in rural Northern Ghana, where the annual statistics of performances of pupils and schools are nothing to write home about, their efforts could eventually yield some results.  

A case in point is the Nanton Constituency in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region of Ghana, where there are many schools without the full complement of professional teachers to impact the lives of children who are desirous of learning, Local Authorities say.

The pupils of Gbulung, Kpachilo, Nanton-Kurugu, Kpano and Gbumgbum Primary Schools in the Nanton Constituency have over the years found themselves in a situation where they had to make do with the few teachers available, who sometimes would not even turn up for school.

As a result of this situation, a total of 22 Junior High Schools presented by the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Education Service for the 2012 Basic Education Certificate Examination saw 15 schools scoring below 40 percent representing 68.20 percent.

However, luck recently smiled at the eager-to-learn pupils of these schools through World Vision-Ghana an international non-governmental organisation and BIBIR-GHANA a local non-governmental organization, when they were organised in groups to be taught how to read, words formation/spelling, general knowledge and how to pronounce words correctly as well as do some basic arithmetic.

As part of the implementation of the project, Bibir-Ghana also formed reading clubs in the five community schools, and revived existing ones formed by World Vision-Ghana previously to imbibe the culture of reading amongst children.

The results of the literacy and numeracy education programme that was implemented within just a period of one-month by World Vision-Ghana in the Nanton Constituency, with technical advice and support from Bibir-Ghana, have been very inspiring and commendable.

Kpano E/A Primary School Contestants

A quiz competition organised by Bibir-Ghana as part of evaluation of the project saw Kpano E/A Primary School taking first place with 74 points out of 100 score points. Gbulung, Gbumgbum, Nanton-Kurugu and Kpachilo Primary Schools also secured second, third, fourth and fifth positions respectively with 63, 61, 60 and 49 points.

The Director of Bibir-Ghana Joseph Charles Osei told Savannahnews all the pupils who represented their schools in the competition were awarded with prices including school bags, exercise books, pens and other learning materials.

Like the various communities and their Parent Teacher Associations and School Management Committees, he urged World Vision-Ghana to extend the duration of the project in order to make enormous impact on the children as well as reverse the poor performance of pupils and schools.

“For the short period that the project lasted, I am proud to say that, Bibir-Ghana was able to build confidence in the children and their desire to learn also increased. If only the project could be extended by World Vision, schools in the Nanton Constituency would chalk success in academic work in few years to come”, Mr. Osei emphasised.