If you are an indigene of Bolgatanga or have resided in the Upper East Region for the past 3 to 4 decades, you would have heard the story of Bolgatanga Model Preparatory Junior High School and how it topped the charts in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), sporting and cultural activities.
Though a public school, it was highly revered and considered the school for the children of the elite.
Preparatory’s story transcends different generations, and it has played a key role in raising people, who now serve in various spheres of life and occupy significant positions of leadership.
Unfortunately, the story of the Bolgatanga Model Preparatory Junior High School has changed and taken a turn for the worse.
The school, whose worst scores in the exams then were nothing below a teen, started recording rather poor results in recent years, though reflective of the general poor outcomes in education across the country.
Such results do not reflect the image the school represents and cannot be viewed as a model for others to emulate.
For instance, in the 2023/2024 academic year, the best aggregate the Bolgatanga Model Preparatory Junior High School recorded was 22.
Unhappy about the turn of events, the old students of the school resolved to carry out a series of activities, hoping to encourage learners to improve their performance.
One of such activities is the mentorship session. This had some old students playing diverse roles in society, and some actors in the education sector engage the learners one-on-one to understand their challenges and prospects to offer the needed guidance.
Some of the speakers reminded the learners of the glory days of Preparatory and how it had an unmatched record.
Leading the old students to organize the event, Raymond Akolbire Ayine, explained that the mentoring session is to prepare the minds of the candidates for the exam.
With the mentoring session, he is optimistic that, just like last year that similar interventions saw some improvement despite the results not meeting expectations, they would see marked improvement this year.
“As part of our 50th anniversary, we resolved that we were going together plan together that will significantly improve the performance of the learners. So, we had a prayerthon session last year, donated mathematical sets, and we realized that we needed to do more to shape their career path. That is why we decided to organize the mentoring session, and hopefully, the results will improve. So, we expect the Preparatory School will take its place in the scheme of things when it comes to performance. We want nothing less than a single digit,” he stressed.
Headteacher of Bolgatanga Model Preparatory JHS, Nuhu Yusif expressed gratitude to the old students of the school for their contributions in a bid to complement the efforts of the school authorities.
He assured them of improved results this year.
“Our children are embarking on a journey, and it is not an easy one. And I’m happy the old students have again organized the mentoring session for the candidates. The students interacted freely with the mentors, and I am grateful to the old students for being supportive, and I think that we have to pay them back with good results.”
Some learners expressed their excitement and gratitude to the old students for the unique opportunity to be guided ahead of this year’s BECE.
They say they have resolved to make a great difference by achieving better results.
Meanwhile, Beatrice Teni Atule, Human Resource Officer of the Ghana Education Service, Bolgatanga Municipality, urges parents and guardians to allow the learners to have enough rest to prepare adequately for the exam.
