Philanthropist bemoans poor performance by Agbogbla D.A. Basic School students in BECE

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the John D.K. Dorgbetor Memorial Foundation, Benjamin Dorgbetor has expressed disappointment at the continuous poor performance of students of the Agbogbla D.A. Basic School at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level.

According to him, he is unable to come to terms with such low output as it is very worrying that in spite of the huge investment the Foundation has been making into the educational needs of the school over the years, yet the academic performance of the pupils keeps declining.

Mr. Dorgbetor was speaking at this year’s Pupils Annual Awards ceremony of the school at Agbogbla in the South Tongu District of the Volta Region.

The awards scheme was instituted in 2018 in memory of the late John D.K. Dorgbetor, a retired educationist and a lover of education from the Agbogbla community who did not only prioritize and support the education of his children, but also extended such humanitarian and philanthropic gesture to several pupils, students from the community and beyond as in addition adoption the only basic school in the community.

The Dorgbetor family after the demise of their father through the Memorial Foundation has since been very supportive to the school and the students. The Foundation has so far supported the school with some sixty-two (62) mono desks, a computer laboratory, marker boards and pens.

The Foundation has also instituted an annual performance award for the pupils, students and teachers from the Kindergarten (KG) level to the JHS stage of the Basic school to motivate them.

In the 2023 awards ceremony, a number of teachers were also honoured with award items such as pressing irons, standing fans and smart television sets for their contribution to the development of quality education in the school and community.

This year’s awards went to forty-three (43) pupils and students, the first three pupils from KG to JHS 3 received prizes for their outstanding internal academic performance this year. The awardees, most of whom were girls, included three (3) outgone 2023 BECE candidates who are now first year students at the secondary school level is a good moral booster.

The award winners received school bags, Oxford English dictionaries, textbooks, assorted stationary items as well as writing materials such as pens and pencils as well as exercise and notebooks amongst others.

Mr. Benjamin Dorgbetor regretted that in spite of these investments in the educational lives of the school children’s performance at the BECE level keeps declining from 65 percent in 2019 to 42.8 percent in 2021 and further to 12 percent in 2022.

He said, this calls for an urgent and crucial meeting of stakeholders of education in the community to address the fallen educational standards before they get out of hand.

The CEO who was emotional while delivering his address, described the development as very disturbing and discouraging, hoping that something can be done about the situation so that the Foundation is not compelled to hold back its support to the school and the children.

Mr. Dorgbetor used the occasion to renew his appeal to the parents, teachers, community leaders and the pupils to effectively collaborate with one another to ensure a paradigm shift of the situation.

He particularly charged the pupils and students to study hard in order to achieve their goals in education to justify the huge investment made in them.

The Deputy Director in-charge of Administration and Finance (A&F) at the South Tongu District Directorate of Education, Mr. Edward Wilberforce commended the Dorgbetor Foundation for such initiative and their contribution to the development and promotion of education in the community.

He noted that the gesture is not only remarkable but also worthy of emulation and urged other public-spirited organizations and individuals as well as philanthropists to help support education in the area.

Mr. Gbetodeme added his voice to calls to all stakeholders of education in the community particularly the parents to heavily invest in the education of their wards as he admonished the teachers to remain committed to their roles and responsibilities towards the achievement of the children they teach.

Headteacher of the Agbogla E.P. Primary School and KG, Mr. Morkporkpor Kwami Klu noted that the immense contribution of the Dorgbetor Foundation to the development of the school and pupils cannot be over-emphasized and gave the assurance that their investment would not be in vain and that they would reciprocate such gesture with hard work.

Mr. Klu expressed concern about the deplorable state of the entire JHS classroom block which is described as a death trap.

According to him, the classroom structure has not only become a death trap as it leaks badly during rainfall and produces excessive heat.

He used the occasion to appeal to the Dorgbetor Memorial Foundation, NGOs, public spirited individuals and organizations as well as all well-meaning Ghanaians including corporate Ghana to come to the aid of the school.

The Assembly Member for the Agbogbla/Tosukpo Electoral Area, Michael Tettey renewed his appeal to the District Assembly and government for that matter to help address the acute infrastructural challenges facing the school.

The event was attended by parents and guardians who were also appreciative of the gesture of the Dorgbetor Memorial Foundation in championing quality educational development in the community for the past seven years and still counting.