Introduction
The Bosome Freho District Education Oversight Committee held its regular meeting on Tuesday, 21st June 2022, at the District Assembly Hall. The meeting was chaired by the District Director of Education, Mr. Seth Boateng, and attended by other committee members, including representatives from the Ghana Education Service, District Assembly, Parent-Teacher Associations, School Management Committees, and community leaders.
The meeting discussed various issues affecting education in the district and made decisions on the way forward. Some of the key highlights of the meeting are as follows:
Update on the Procurement of Furniture
Reference was made to the approval for the purchase of the proposed furniture for the lower primary and KG pupils at the basic level as recommended. Updating on the state of the procurement, the Head of the Implementation Committee, informed Members that the contract has been awarded accordingly to Amponsah Wood Works with the manufacturing processes currently at the advanced stage of completion. Members commended the effort and urged the committee to speed up the monitoring process to ensure that the consignments were delivered on time.
Update on the District Reading Festival
The District Director of Education briefed the Committee on the outcome of the festival. He reiterated that the program was successfully organized for the Ten (10) non-GALOP basic schools in the district and that Oware DA primary school and Nsueam Islamic Basic School who qualified at the district level represent the district at the zonal level. He stated that the district came third at the Zonal stage which was organized at Ejisu after Oforikrom and Ejisu basic schools had won the competition to represent the zone at the Regional level organized in Kumasi. The District Director, however, emphasized that the directorate has the intention of awarding the deserved basic schools for excellent performance to encourage others to do the same but lacks the financial will to do so. He therefore appealed to the stakeholders especially, the District Assembly to come to their aid to adequately motivate the schools as discussed.
Update on the District Mock Examination-2022
The District Director of Education was unhappy to inform the Committee of the Directorate’s inability to organize the district-wide mock exams to support the adequate preparation of the BECE candidates in the district. The reason was assigned to the Assembly’s inability to release funds for the purpose. Mr. Seth Boateng commended Parents for earlier supporting the Directorate to organize two of such exercises. He, however, appealed to DEOC and the Change Leaders to continue with their advocacy by sensitizing parents to take up the challenge going forward. Deliberating further on the situation, Members were sincerely worried and much concerned about the negative impact of the situation on the outcome of the 2022 district’s BECE examination result. The Assembly on its part, apologized for not been able to assist the exercise as expected due to financial constraints and assured the Committee to do all it takes to support the directorate to carry out such an important exercise to the benefit of the district come next academic year. The Committee, however, recommended that the Assembly to acknowledge the importance of such academic exercise and prioritized them in their Composite Budget and the Annual Action Plan for approval to organize at least four (4) district-wide mock exams for 2023 BECE candidates.
PRESENTATION- UPDATE ON LEARNING TRANSFORMATION AGENDA IMPLEMENTATION
The presentation was based on the activities being carried out in line with the approved LTA, aiming at improving the learning outcome in the district. Mr. Asabere, Head of the Implementation Committee, took members through the power point presentation. Issues reported and discussed were;
Procurement and Distribution of Furniture
Members were informed that the procurement processes for the purchase of Seven Hundred and Seventy Five (775) dual desk, Three Hundred and Fifty (350) circular tables and One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty (1750) chairs for lower primary and KG respectively were awarded successfully to Amponsah Wood Works as mentioned earlier with manufacturing at the advance stage of completion per the progress report. Members commended the effort made and recommended for the strengthening of the monitoring exercise to ensure timely completion and supply of the furniture to the approved basic schools.
Procurement and Distribution of Forty-Nine (49) Laptop Computers
It was reported that due to the prevailing high inflation rate, the initial amount budgeted for the purchase of the Forty-Nine (49) laptop computers, could not match up with the current market prices and so Thirty- Two (32) laptop computers were bought with the remaining Seventeen (17) laptops yet to be purchased. It was further explained that the Implementation Committee in consultation with the district education directorate, per further monitoring proposed to vire the amount allocated for the purchase and distribution of the marker boards into the purchase of the remaining Seventeen (17) laptop computers. The reason assigned was the sustainability problems that might associate with the use of the marker boards. A motion was moved by Hon. Acheamfour Daniel after a lengthy discussion, to finance the
purchase of the seventeen laptops from the marker boards allocation and other accrued funds. The motion was seconded by Nana Akua Aboagyewaa. The Committee unanimously approved and recommended the Directorate to seek for further approval to purchase the items as agreed upon from the appropriate authority (GES/TE-TEL).
Enrollment of Non-GALOP Schools on Mobile School Report Card (MSRC)
The Committee was notified that all non-GALOP schools in the district were successfully enrolled onto the dash board. Moreover, per the progress made, the thirty-two (32) laptop computers purchased were already distributed to thirty-two (32) out of the forty-nine (49) non-GALOP schools and that training on the mSRC dash board for eight (8) SISOs, twenty-seven (27) ICT teachers and fifty-one (51) headteachers were also completed. With regards to training on the use of the PLC handbooks 1 which was funded by T-TEL and GES respectively, the facilitator remarked that the activity has been carried out for headteachers and the PLC coordinators with three hundred and forty-four (344) copies of the PLC handbooks distributed to teachers’ district-wide. After further deliberations, members recommended for the directorate to intensify monitoring activities on the use of the laptop computers distributed to teachers to ensure that the intended purposes were met.
Per the report, the unfinished and yet-to-commence activities that needed the approval to be carried out in the second quarter involve
- Procurement of seventeen (17) outstanding laptop computers
- Embossment of furniture procured
- Procurement of textbooks
The facilitator finally informed the Committee of the approval of the revised district’s LTA by GES which has become the strategic plan to be implemented for improvement of the learning outcome in the district.
REQUEST FOR CONTINUATION OF QUARTER TWO ACTIVITY
The District Director of Education briefed the committee on what was needed to carry out the activities of the second quarter successfully since time was far spent. Members further deliberated on the outlined activities and subsequently, approved for its continuity to be carried out as requested. It was further agreed and recommended for DEOC to facilitate in writing the official letter requesting the office of GES and T-TEL for approval to carry out the quarter two activities.
PREPARATION FOR BECE EXAMS-2022
The District’s Exams Co-ordinator informed the Committee that all was set for the commencement of the 2022 BECE exams from Monday 17th October through to Friday 21st October 2022. He stated the following:
- That the total number of candidates in the district stood at thousand two hundred and thirty-one (1,231) representing 652 males and 579 females
- That there were four (4) examination centers in the entire district namely;
- Bosome SHS (9 schools with 301 candidates)
- Nsuaem (10 schools with 243 candidates)
- Dunkura (15 schools with 295 candidates)
- Tebeso (8 schools with 295 candidates)
He further remarked that supervisors/Assistants were successfully trained with forty (40) invigilators while the needed stationaries and logistics were effectively distributed by GES to ensure the smooth conduct of the exams. The District Director of Education however requested for Assembly to support the directorates with fuel to enable them to convey and distribute the exam material to the various centers on time. The Committee on further discussions, urged Management of the Assembly to urgently support the directorates as requested to ensure a successful conduct of the 2022 edition of the BECE exams in the district. As to the student’s preparation and number of pregnant teenage candidates, Mr. Seth Boateng reported on an effective preparation made so far but remarked that the number of teenage candidates would be known at the examination centers. The District Health Director however, informed Members about the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy reported at Her facility and pleaded with DEOC and the Education Directorate to factor sex reproductive education in the district’s LTA to help address the issue going forward. The District Director of Education reiterated his outfit’s efforts made about issues on teenage pregnancy and remarked that GES and T-TEL would investigate the request and address it appropriately. In another development, the private schools’ coordinators were advised to cooperate with the directives from the GES to enable them to benefit from the government’s interventions in the public schools.
CLOSING
The District Education Director was grateful to all stakeholders especially DEOC for their support. He however, urged all Members to continue offer the needed support to helpreach out to the objectives seeking for. In the absence of any further deliberations, Mr. Amuzu moved for an adjournment of the meeting. The motion was seconded by Nana Aboagyewaa with Mr. Seidu Bipuah offering the closing prayer. The meeting officially ended at 12:41pm.