The partners in education have therefore called for rigorous efforts from government, civil society groups, teacher unions, parents and guardians to immediately take deliberate action that would help transform the sector and ensure quality teaching and learning in schools.

Academic performance among students in the Upper West Region has been dwindling over the years.

This, according to education officials and partners in education was inimical to rapid development of the region.

To reverse the negative trend, the Upper West Regional Directorate of Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) organised a day's forum to deliberate over the matter in order to find remedial actions.

Teacher unions, private sector actors, teachers, and Heads of Departments were among other interested parties that attended the forum to chart, what they called favourable path of curbing falling standards of education in Upper West.

Mr Kwame Dagbandow, the Regional Secretary for Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), identified poor teacher motivation and negligence by parents in the education of their children as some fundamental factors causing poor performance in schools.

He called for improved motivation for teachers at basic and higher levels, timely availability of teaching and learning materials, regular in-service training and vested interest of parents and guardians in educating children as some of the ways to reverse the poor academic performance in schools. 

In his address, Mr Amidu Ishaq Chinnia, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, recognised the central role of government over the years in putting measures in place to ensure access to education and quality teaching and learning.

Though economic situations have changed over the years, he said there had been improvement in teacher remuneration as well as enough provision of teaching and learning materials to schools.

He could not fathom why public schools still recorded abysmal performances despite having professionally trained teachers as against private schools.

"The average percentage over the past six years is 33.36 per cent. This is quite worrying and disheartening, a situation which has prompted us to organise this regional education forum...to help adopt a common stance to address this situation," he said.

The Deputy Minister who was a teacher himself, attributed poor academic performance in the region, partly, to lack of commitment by teachers.

On his part, Mr Duncan Nsoh, the Upper West Regional Director of Education, said he was committed to promoting high standards of education in the region.

He urged staff of the education service to be diligent in their dealings in order to avoid being sanctioned.

He also appealed to journalists in the region to be circumspect in their reportage and focus on projecting the good image of the Upper West to investors.