The computer selection of B.E.C.E candidates into Senior High School has come to stay despite the initial problems encountered when it was initially introduced. Placement of candidates is done based on their raw marks in the four core subjects (Mathematics, English Language, Integrated Science and Social studies) and two highest scoring subjects out of the remaining six.

The performance of your ward in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is greatly affected by the Senior High School your he/she attends. However, competition into the best public Senior High School is keen.

Below is the 2008 cut off marks for General Science, Business, General Arts and Home Economics of some senior high schools

 Schools which tend to take higher intake have their cut off marks low. On the average, if a pupil is to make Wesley Girl’s or Mfanstipim for instance, he/she must obtain a mark of about 75 in Mathematics, English Language, Social Studies, Int. Science and any other two subjects.

Most Schools in Accra have limited vacancies in the boarding house, freshers are therefore made day students in the first year. 

Parents are adviced to visit the schools they want their ward to attend before they are selected  as first or second choice.

What course should my ward offer at the senior high school? I have heard parents making remarks which suggest they are having trouble in deciding what course their ward/s should offer at the senior high school level. But who should make that decision? Is it the parents, the teachers or the students?

I sincerely believe that students should be counselled and input from the teachers should play a paramount role in making the final decision. Parents should never impose a course for their ward/s at the Senior High School.

Courses available at most Senior High Schools

Though the duration of Senior High School was extended from three years to four years starting from the 2007/2008 academic year, the core curriculum and the specialized subjects being pursued under the different courses remains the same. Also, most senior high schools introduce the students to all the various subjects in the first year; offer another counselling program for them before they finally choose their courses in the second year. The core subjects being offered are: Mathematics, English, Integrated Science and Social Studies. Each student is required to offer four elective subjects at the senior high school.

Courses being offered in most Senior High School

General Science

Students who are good in Mathematics, Integrated science and English Language have a greater probability of excelling in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE)

A very wide option is available for students to specialize in at the University. Students who wish to enter the college of Engineering at KNUST to must obtain at least aggregate 12 in WASSCE.   The faculty of medicine at KNUST demands the best aggregate (06-07) followed by an interview. Students with aggregate 06-14 in WASSCE have a high chance of gaining admission into the Faculty of Pharmacy, college of sciences and the college of Agriculture and Renewable resources.

Students with a good result (06-12) can gain admission into the College of Health sciences, the College of Agriculture and Consumer sciences and the Faculty of Engineering Science in the University of Ghana, Legon. The University of Cape Coast admits Science students with aggregate between (06-14) in the School of Social sciences, School of Physical sciences and in the School of Agriculture.

General Arts

Most general arts’ students aim at gaining admission into the Faculty of law and the Faculty of arts’ at the University of Ghana, Legon. Entrance into these faculties is very competitive. Students with aggregate (06-12) have a higher chance of being granted admission.

 The College of Art and Social Sciences at KNUST and Cape Coast University also admits a lot of students with General arts’ background. Entrance into these faculties is very competitive. Students with aggregate (06-15) in WASSCE have a higher chance of being granted admission.

Visual Arts and Home Economics

Students with visual arts and Home economics background can gain admission into the Department of Integrated Rural Art and Industry. Students are required to pass three core subjects and three electives.

 For admission into Department of Publishing studies, Visual arts’ students must offer any of the following electives (General Knowledge in Art, Picture Making and /or Graphic Design plus Textiles or Sculpture or Leatherwork.) Home Economics Students must offer the following electives (General knowledge in Art, Management in Living plus either Food and Nutrition or Clothing and Textiles)

 For admission into the Faculty of law, Visual arts’ students must pass three electives and the three core subjects.

For admission into the College of Architecture, Visual arts’ students must offer elective maths as part of their elective subjects.

 Below is the list of Cut off Marks into the various Departments for the 2007/2008 academic year at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi

The class of the intellectuals, as they tagged themselves have lived up to their name. Not only did they produce one of the best B.E.C.E. results nationwide, they have also made first class senior high schools.

RESULT AND PLACEMENT TO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

School will reopen tomorrow the first of September, 2008. A lot of activities is scheduled to take place this term. It’s my prayer that all stakeholders involved in ensuring that standard of education is maintained play their role.

On the 6th of September, the first general PTA meeting for the 2008/2009 academic year would be held. The third graduation, speech and prize giving day would be held on the 13th of September. Parents should take note of these important dates and ensure they participate in all activities.

All the teachers, past and present that have played diverse roles in ensuring Mayflower School is ranked among the best nationwide, I say a big thank you.

I have monitored the performance of public schools over the past three years and it is sad to note that the worst B.E.C.E results come from them. But what exactly are the private schools doing right? Are they cheating on a mass scale or they still have access to “Apo?” 

Incidentally, the government is doing everything in its power to make education affordable and accessible by providing the free feeding program, mass transportation and the capitation grant, despite all these initiatives, standard of most basic schools is dropping at an alarming rate.

There are numerous problems facing the public schools. Four of the problems identified include;

·          Lack of incentive and motivation for teachers

·          Lack of infrastructure and logistics for basic schools.

·          Lack of supervision and absenteeism.

·          Mass promotion

Lack of incentive and motivation for teachers

Last year, nurses and doctors went on strike for about one month. They wanted an increase in salary. The minister of health and other stakeholders met them and their difference was resolved, everybody went home happy. A month later, teachers also went on strike over salary increments, their demand was not met but the unfortunate thing was that their salary for the month they were on strike was withheld. Such ill-treatment toward teachers results in a lot of apathy toward their duties. 

Lack of incentive toward teachers undermines education in the public schools. Presently, the school feeding program has resulted in overwhelming increments in most school’s enrolment. Whereas some private schools have just about 20-25 pupils in the class, their counterpart in the public schools is recording 60-70 pupils per class. How can the teacher mark their class work and home work? Can they do any meaningful correction in class? These are issues that must be addressed if the low performance in the public school is to be improved.

Lack of infrastructure and logistics for basic schools

The school feeding program the government introduced last year must be recommended for one thing; it has increased the enrolment tremendously in the public schools. The only shortfall however is that the increment is not commensurate with the infrastructures in the schools. Many a times, pupils are seen sitting on the floor because of lack of tables and chairs. Some even sit under the mercy of the scorching sun. How can these children concentrate and perform well in their final exams?

 The capitation grant has also changed the mind set of most parents and has definitely killed the spirit of contribution toward their wards’ education. They expect the government to provide everything including books and pens thus resulting in most pupils going to school empty-handed. What would they write in? The government must start embarking on serious infra structural development nationwide and limit enrolment to at most 40 pupils per class.

Lack of supervision and absenteeism

The head of the basic schools are responsible for supervising teachers lesson notes, ensuring  time table is prepared and allocated to all teachers’ and assessing teachers’ performance. However, some heads have neglected their core functions and transformed their roles into that of purchasing agents for the school feeding program. Teachers on the other hand absent themselves in other to make something small to complement their meager salary. Lack of supervision is one of the reasons for the abmysal performance of public school pupils.  Pupils are not left out in this absenteeism syndrome. Their contact time with their teachers is inadequate resulting in substantial proportion of their syllabus going untaught

Mass Promotion

The concept of mass promotion must be looked at critically.  Students who do not perform well at the end of the academic year must be repeated. Also, common entrance must be written by class six students before being promoted into form one. In Nigeria for instance, most Junior High Schools is attached to the Senior High Schools and common entrance  is written by class six pupils before gaining admission into such combined high schools, hence most parents are serious about the performance of their wards at the primary level.

 One thing the government can do is to build federal Junior high schools nationwide, resource them, pay the teaching staff very well and let all primary school pupils write common entrance before gaining admission into such federal schools.

The supervision in all basic schools must also be looked at critically. Teachers who are found to absent themselves must be sacked and serious ones retained in the public schools.

Education cannot be totally free. Government must encourage parents to contribute to their wards education by providing books, pens, pencils and school uniforms. Parents must be encouraged to pay PTA dues and participate in communal activities that would help in the development of the schools in their respective communities.

The Bible says that whatever a man soweth, so shall he reap.  Every parent must endeavour to supplement the government’s effort. The problems in the public schools are numerous.  Despite the fact that most trained teachers teach in the public schools, their results cannot compare to that of the private schools which use about 90% SSS graduate as teachers. Until most of the critical problems are addressed, the quality of education in the public schools would continue in its downward trend.

I have presented three batches of B.E.C.E candidates over the past three years but looking at the results received so far, I can confidently say that the result for this year would be one of the best even though reports from the media suggest the worst B.E.C.E result was produced in the 2008 B.E.C.E

When our last year’s result was received from Ghana Education Service (G.E.S) and it was realized that our worst grade was aggregate eight, we wondered whether the present batch could match that record of 99% aggregate six and one aggregate eight. But after a lot of hard work from the teachers, parents and the community at large, we are posed for another award next year.

Below is the detail of the results from our candidates;

four obtained 9 ones (aggregate 06)

four obtained 8 ones (aggregate 06)

five obtained 7 ones (aggregate 06)

one obtained 6 ones (aggregate 06)

The shocker of the results obtained so far is that of Musa Botchway. Not only did he obtain 9 ones (aggregate 06); he is the only candidate who obtained aggregate one in French. Kotoko babies football player, Ayekoo.

August 16, 2008 the day the Proprietor and headmaster of Mayflower Prep. School received the Ayekoo Excellence Award for being the third best school in Tema District and 20th best school nationwide would always be a memorable day in the history of school.

The National Basic Education Awards was instituted by the Ayekoo Excellence foundation, a locally based Non Governmental Organization (NGO), who organizes this award annually in collaboration with Ghana Education Service (G.E.S) to award Private and Public schools who exhibit outstanding performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (B.E.C.E)

This year, 40 private and public schools with the least mean aggregate in the 2007 B.E.C.E were selected out of 32,040 to form the first batch of the Platinum League Schools. Mayflower Prep. School placed 20th.

Below is the list of the top 40 Schools Nationwide (Platinum League School)

From the analysis of the table above, schools with any of their students obtaining aggregate greater than 10 cannot make the prestigious league. It’s my prayer that the present batch of form three’s perform better than their predecessors.

Mayflower prep. School, don’t grovel on the ground.

Mayflower, the sky cannot limit us.

The only difference between losers and winners is that whilst losers always wish their dreams would come true, winners always take action toward realising their dreams. It was difficult to hide my excitement when I was told Pastor Jonathan Wray (the music teacher) had written a book titled “Music made simple for Junior and Senior High Schools.”

 I quite remember that during the last graduation ceremony at Mayflower Preparatory school, the MC on introducing Pastor Jonathan Wray to give the opening prayer informed the parents present that he was writing a music book. I sat on the high table wondering whether it wasn’t one of those government project which is always in the pipeline and never gets out.

 After the program, I found out that he was still gathering information for the book and I urged him to try and publish it before the end of the following term. After the end of the second term, I asked about the state of the book but was surprised when he replied that he was still gathering information for the book. My conclusion was drawn; this guy is one of them. “A loser” 

  I was in my office one hot afternoon relaxing after the day’s work when Mr. Patrick, the computer teacher gave me a book which he claimed was Pastor Jonathan’s music book.  I had to double check the authors name to ensure my eyes weren’t seeing wrong. He had indeed completed the book. When I glanced through the first three chapters and saw the contents, I immediately understood why it took so long for the book to be published. The content of the book depicts someone who had done serious research and also has in-depth knowledge of music.

 Ayekoo Pastor Jonathan, I believe this is the beginning of great things to come. More grace to your elbow.

Should I shout or dance for joy? I couldn’t hide my excitement when news reached me that we have been selected as an award winner and thus would become a member of the pretigious Platinum League Schools ( one of the best basic school nationwide in terms of  academic performance in the 2007 B.E.C.E examination)

After being ranked the third best school in Tema based on our B.E.C.E performance, I definately knew that we would be ranked among the best nationwide.

A special thank you to all the teaching and non- teaching staff at Mayflower Preparatory School, your hard work has been recognized and your personal award is in the pipeline. It’s my prayer that our  third batch of candidates  perform far better that their predesessors.

Once again we have gone halfway through the term. The school will be going on mid-term on the 13th and 16^th of June 2008.  Most teachers would be organizing their mid-term test before and after the  mid-term holidays.

It’s my hope that students would learn very hard from now till the end of the term  to ensure they perform very well in the test and in the main promotional examination which is just around the corner.