Junior High School (JHS), formerly Junior Secondary School, teachers in the Assin South District have decided to forfeit their second term holidays to prepare final year students for Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE). The decision of the teachers who would be supported by officers of the District Directorate formed part of the Quality Improvement Plan to help raise the standard of education in the area. Ms Helena Arko, District Director of Education said the plan followed the poor performance of students in this year's BECE. Seven out of the 57 Junior High Schools in the District recorded zero per cent meaning none of the candidates scored between aggregates six to 30 to qualify for short listing to Senior High Schools. Ms Arko described the results as "a source great worry" to the District Education Directorate and the teachers who she said "had vowed to go extra mile" to reverse it. According to the District Director, the teachers had also decided to hold early morning extra classes for JHS students from 06:30 hours to 0800 hours from Monday to Friday before normal classes. Ms Arko blamed parents and guardians for the poor performance especially in public schools because many of them had come to regard the Capitation Grant and the School Feeding Programme as what he called "an end to investment in their children and wards education". "Whilst parents whose children are in private schools readily buy books and stationery for their children and take keen interest in their studies those with their children in public schools are not willing to help them, just because they expect the government to do everything," she said. Ms Arko appealed to the government to provide logistics and funds for the Inspectorate Unit of the Directorate to intensify supervision. The Director also appealed to the government to ensure the prompt payment of the salaries of newly trained Teachers and Teaching Assistants under the National Youth Employment Programme who had to leave the classroom to chase their pay. Source: GNA