ducation plays a vital role in every country's development as it is the tool for the liberation of the minds of people as well as the facilitation of social integration and economic development. The education system constitutes the principal mechanism for the development of essential body of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. The quality of life of the citizens of a nation depends largely on the quality of education given, hence it has become mandatory to have the best quality education for its citizens to fit into the ever-changing society we find ourselves (Morley, 2003).

Formal education is an important part of the skill acquisition process and development of the stock of human capital. It contributes to the process of molding attitudinal skills and developing technical skills. Education increases the ability to understand and critique new ideas. It facilitates the adoption and/or modification of technology (Oduro, 2000).

For the last decades the world has seen new forms of international cooperation forming around the pledge for Education for All (EFA) initiatives. In spite of the fact that this initiative is a well mentioned move to resolve the world's education challenges, others have called for a rather regional and national approach to solving educational challenges, particularly in Africa (Barakat, Bengtsson, Muttarak, & Kebede, 2016). (Okyerefo, Fiaveh, & Lamptey, 2011),argue that, students' enrolment rates in Ghana have seen steady increases as a result of efforts (such as the School Feeding Programe, the Capitation Grant, and the GET Fund) by various governments when compared to the early 1980s. (Ashie, 2015) reports that, Ghana's educational structure can be traced through the inception of the castle schools by colonial masters and mission schools by missionaries. Today Ghanaian schools are mostly public (government assisted) or private. There are also a few mission schools administrated by the Catholic, Presbyterian, and Anglican. Ghana education has yielded good results in the past and has produced lots of great men to the world, Ghana in particular. One notable person is Kofi Annang, a former UN Secretary General.

Ghana allocates a substantial portion of its national budget for education expecting the educational system to equip students with knowledge, skills, and abilities that will enable them to contribute to national development. Recognizing the inherent in an educated citizenry, Ghana, in 1996, implemented a Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy, two objectives being that all appropriate age children enroll in school and to obtain quality education at the basic level by 2005. Basic education in Ghana includes the first nine years of school. The first six years comprise primary education followed by the three years of Junior High School, (Akyeampong & Lewin, 2002) As reported by the West African Council on BECE (Basic Education Certificate Examination), in recent times Ghana's education system is on a decline. Politicians and policy makers have failed to find a solution to this huge failure rate which was revealed to be 50% of the students fail (Ashie, 2015).

Public schools are said to be schools which are owned and run by the government, while private schools are owned and managed by individuals, organizations and religious bodies. In view of the fact that these two categories of schools use the same Ghana Education Service (GES) stipulated curriculum, one would wonder why there are disparities in their academic achievement during external examinations. There is public outcry E against the abysmal performance in public schools as against their counterparts in private schools. Due to poor performance in public basic schools, some parents go to all lengths to get their wards enrolled in private schools, even though they have to pay large amounts of money as fees in these schools.

Despite governmental policies and initiatives regarding the betterment of publicly owned basic schools, for the past years, Ghana has witnessed disparity between pupils in the public and private basic schools, as far as academic performance is concerned. (Assessment) in Ankamah and Hope (2011), argue that academic achievement as measured by Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) of pupils in private basic schools exceed that of those in public schools. Like in other countries, Ghana's public-schools take holders' question whether the investment in education yields an appropriate return. Ironically, many of Ghana's private schools employ teachers who are not professionally trained while public schools are staffed mostly with a of certified professional teachers (EARC, 2003).

Clearly there is a general observation that academic standards and performance in public basic schools have fallen as compared to private basic schools. The tragedy is that pupils' academic performance in private schools is better than that of the public schools, where the bulk of pupils receive their education (Mensah, 1995). The statistics shown in Table 1 and published by the Ministry of Education (M.O.E) support the observations made by certain stakeholders of education about the disparity of performance in private and basic education. This was cited in Opare's (1999) work. Reports 1994Reports , 1996Reports , 1997Reports (1999)).

Even though credit is being given to the private schools for their better performance, one should not lose sight of the fact that public schools are doing well also. When we take another look at Table 1, we realize that there was a steady growth in the performance of public schools. Between the years 1994-1997, percentage reaching mastery level moved from 3.3 to 6.2 in English while that of mathematics moved upwards from 1.5 to 2.7. There is the argument that performance is still very poor compared with that of private schools, but we cannot rule out the fact that the seemingly little change is very significant in educational terms.

The causes of low academic performance in schools have been attributed to a number of factors. Prominent among them are the teacher professional qualification, teacher motivation, proper supervision, the availability of teaching and learning resources in the schools, and the use of instructional time.

Since the introduction of the 1987 educational reforms, it has been the desire of governments to increase access, participation, quality and effective management in schools. In the area of the provision of quality education, untrained teachers (pupil teachers) have been given the opportunity to go for professional training which will in effect improve the quality of teaching and learning in our public schools. The issue of poor performance of pupils in the public schools as against that of private schools is of great concern to everyone.

Given Ghana's public and private basic school student achievement disparity, this study is aimed at ascertaining the main issues causing the disparity of academic performance between the publicly owned basic schools and privately-owned basic schools in the Berekum Municipality.

The specific objectives of the study are stated as follows: 1. To ascertain how the public and basic school headteachers carry out their supervisory roles. 2. To identify the source of motivation, if any, for teachers in the public and private basic schools.

3. To identify the resources available for teaching and learning in both private and public basic schools in the selected schools in Berekum Municipality 4. To identify the type of teaching methods used by teachers in both private and public basic schools.

The study will be guided by the following questions: 1. How different do head teachers carry out their supervisory roles in both private and public basic schools in the Berekum Municipality? 2. What kinds of teacher motivation are there in the public basic schools as compared to that of private schools in the Berekum Municipality? 3. What resources are available for teaching and learning in both private and public basic schools in the Berekum Municipality? 4. What type of teaching method do the public and private basic teachers use in the selected schools?

The research into assessing the disparities in academic performance is very significant. A time has come when quality academic performance cannot be compromised, be it in a public or private school. The research will make modest contributions towards improving student performance at the basic level in both public and private schools.

The study has added to existing literature on the factors that affect academic performance and how these factors can be improved. The research to this end would be primarily significant to teachers, heads of schools, parents, policy makers and all stakeholders in the education sector. From the perspective of policy makers, it has enriched their sense of focus as to how best they can formulate and implement educational policies. Parents would also find this research useful, because it would help them make informed choices as to where to educate their wards and the quality of education their wards would be receiving.

Knowledge and technology are increasingly becoming the basis of competitive advantage influences the extent to which knowledge and technology can be utilized and created to enhance productivity and increase the well-being of citizens (Oduro, 2000). Lall (1992) defines human capital as "not just the skills generated by formal education and training, but also those created by on-the-job training and the experience of technological activity and the legacy of inherited skills, attitudes and ability (Lall, 1992). Oduro (2000), argues that a not significant proportion of the knowledge base and skills of the work force in Ghana is tradition bound. If the competitiveness of Ghana in the world economy is to improve, the knowledge base, techniques of production and skills of the work force must be broadened beyond the confines of inherited skills, attitudes and abilities. Formal education is an important part of the skill acquisition process and development of the stock of human capital. It contributes to the process of moulding attitudinal skills and developing technical skills. Education increases the ability to understand and critique new ideas. It facilitates the adoption and/or modification of technology. For example, in agriculture if modern farming practices are to be adopted and effectively implemented, farmers must be able to read instructions on how to use the new inputs. Oduro (2000), further postulates that, additional financial resources are but one of the many needs of the basic education sector in Ghana. A review of the curriculum, teaching methods and practices, teacher supervision and incentives for teachers is required in order to achieve an efficient use of the sector's resources. The lack of a positive link between government education spending and performance of the sector shows quite clearly that pumping resources into the sector is not sufficient to solve the problems the sector faces. What is critical is how the resources going into the sector are managed, monitored and utilized.

Many empirical studies have proven the importance of education to national development and human capital among others. Data from the third household survey conducted in Ghana in 1991/92 shows that the incidence of poverty amongst households declines the more educated is the household head. This suggests that education can be the route out of poverty. Education provides opportunities for involvement in activities with high returns.

Basic education is essential not only for human development-that is, empowering each individual with the necessary knowledge and capabilities to be able to choose by that person's own predilection her own future and make an appropriate way of life for herself as a member of society. It is also crucial for the development of developing countries from the viewpoint of fostering human resources for nation-building, as the story about the "spirit of the one hundred sacks of rice" seeks to convey. Basic education is also vital for cultivating understanding and acceptance of other peoples and cultures and for building a foundation for international cooperation (www.mofa.go.jp).

A United States article lists the following as the importance of basic education ? Education spurs economic growth at home and abroad ? Education promotes democracy and stability ? Education saves lives and improves family wellbeing ? Education is one of the most effective preventative weapons against HIV/AIDS.

Teachers stand out as keys to realizing the high standards which are increasingly emphasized in schools and school systems across the country. Despite the general agreement about the importance of high-quality teachers, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and the public have been unable to reach a consensus about what specific qualities and characteristics make a good teacher. There is the array of policy statements regarding teacher preparation that have been set forth in the face of volumes of inconclusive and inconsistent evidence about what teacher attributes really contributed to desired educational outcomes (Rice, 1987) According to the Commission of the European Communities, teachers played a vital role in helping people develop their talents and fulfill their potential for personal growth and well-being, and in helping them acquire the complex range of knowledge and skills that they would need as citizens and as workers. It is school teachers who mediate between a rapidly evolving world and the pupils who are about to enter it. The profession of teaching is becoming more and more complex, and the demands placed upon teachers are increasing with the ever-changing world. Teacher quality matters. In fact, (Cavalluzzo, 2004) in citing Rice (1987) was of the view that, it was the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement. (Hanushek, 1997) estimated that the difference between having a good teacher and having a bad teacher did exceed one grade-level equivalent in annual achievement growth. (Sanders & Sanders, 2013) argued that the single most important factor affecting student achievement is teachers, and the effects of teachers on student achievement are both additive and cumulative. Further, they contend that lower achieving students are the most likely to benefit from increases in teacher effectiveness. In sum, these multiple sources of evidence, however different in nature, all conclude that quality teachers are a critical determinant of student achievement.

The availability, provision and the use of teaching and learning materials go a long way to improve quality teaching which enhances academic performance, (Ankomah & Hope, 2011) stated that "resources that promoted teaching and learning were highly regarded in private schools". He inferred that the above statement may be the cause of high academic performance in this type of school. (Adedeji & Owoeye, 2002) found a significant relationship between the use of recommended textbooks, and academic performance of pupils. According to (Adedeji & Owoeye, 2002) the availability of physical and material resources was very important for the success of any worthwhile educational endeavour. These researches made it known that resources such as classrooms, furniture as well as teaching and learning materials (TLMs) were imperative to educational achievements, if they were made available and in their right quantities and qualities. (Adedeji & Owoeye, 2002) noted that the major contributing factor to academic performance is the facilities the school has. (Eshiet, 1987) also came out with his findings which confirmed earlier finding that, adequate provision of instructional resources could be the live wire to positive performance in science related subjects. (Adedeji & Owoeye, 2002) came out with the finding that, physical structure was significantly related to academic performance and therefore there should be a serious effort to acquire and maintain these resources for better performance.

In a related research (Opare, 1999) also came up with this assertion that the provision of the needed human and material resources went a long way to enhance academic performance. He did this research by comparing the performance of public and private basic schools. One of his findings was that the schools which were well equipped in terms of resources did better than those which did not have the necessary resources for teaching and learning. For (Atakpa & Ankomah, 1998) effective teaching and learning greatly lied on the competence of its human resources as well as material resources which were needed for the impartation of knowledge.

Society could benefit from spending public resources on education that produced results, in other words certificates that reflect a certain level of students with knowledge and competencies. Supervision comes in two main forms; they are the external and internal supervision. For the purpose of this study concentration was on internal supervision which was done by head teachers and teachers.

Supervision was seen by many as a means of helping to direct activities of individuals towards goal attainment. In education, supervision is seen as a means of directing instructions towards achieving educational goal (Atakpa & Ankomah, 1998). Many interpretations had been given to the role supervision plays in our education. While some saw it as a faultfinding machine, others were of the view that supervision helped to develop an individual professionally. But in all of these interpretations, one thing stood clear, that was, no matter the aim of supervision, its main focus was to ensure the growth and development in the teaching and learning process. To this, (Moorer, 1975) asserted that supervision probed into the various actions and inactions that enforced the improvement of conditions that promoted learning. He went on to say that Year 2019

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supervision was primarily linked to activities which improved the learning and growth of both the teacher and pupils. Supervision was culled from the stronger word 'inspection'.

To (Atakpa & Ankomah, 1998) supervision was a means of ensuring that teaching and learning is improved. Hence the teaching and learning process required effective school management to provide the required conditions for quality student achievement and performance. The supervision process was regarded by (Glickman, 1990) as the link between a person and the attainment of organizational goals. This has been illustrated with this simple diagram below: Supervisor Supervision teacher instruction attainment of organizational goal f) Teacher Motivation Teacher motivation is one of the fundamental issues to be considered in the education setting. According to (Bishay, 1996) studies show that improvement in teacher motivation has benefits for students as well as teachers; however, there is no consensus about the precise benefits. Teachers with strong positive attitudes about teaching had students whose self-esteem was high. Students seem to recognize the effectiveness of teachers who are satisfied with their teaching performance. Association exists because teachers serve as more than just educators; they are role models. The benefits of teacher satisfaction for both teachers and pupils' points to the importance of studying how teachers feel about work.

Even though teacher motivation is a major issue to be considered, it seems little attention is given by policy makers. (Bennell & Akyeampong, 2007) argue that it is certainly true that nearly all national education strategies and reforms now focus on improving teacher competence and the working environment, and the promotion of greater school autonomy, all of which can improve teacher motivation. But many reform programmes also seek to change fundamentally teaching practices and increase the workload of teachers while, at the same time, ignoring or giving insufficient attention to very low pay and other conditions of service. The authors further postulate that, teachers in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are being asked to change radically teaching practices at a time when the majority of them are increasingly demotivated.

Top-down policy formulation and implementation with limited participation by teachers exacerbates the already very limited degree of selfdetermination that can be exercised by teachers and the end result are that many teachers feel that they are being coerced. Not surprisingly, therefore, teachers resist (both actively and passively) these reform efforts. There appear to be mounting concerns that unacceptably high proportions of teachers working in public school systems in many low-income developing countries are poorly motivated due to a combination of low morale and job satisfaction, poor incentives, and inadequate controls and other behavioural sanctions.

Instructional methods (Teaching methods are standard procedures) in which teachers or instructors use to present a lesson to enable students to acquire expected knowledge in the subject of interest. All teaching methods should be designed to increase knowledge, build positive attitude and values, place emphasis on problem-solving, dispel myths, increase skills and provide support for students to develop the concept for utilizing facts and information to help guard against knowledge from becoming "inert ideas". There are various methods of teaching, but for the purpose of the study, emphasis will be laid only on the activity and lecture method of teaching.

The genesis of activity method can be traced from Piaget stages of cognitive development in children. According to Piaget, children by nature have unique ways of behaving with objects in the environment.

Children unique behaviors include imitation, curiosity about objects and events, creativity, assume leadership roles during play, collection of objects and classification according to shapes, size, colour, etc.

Activity method is a method of teaching where the child is placed at the centre of the teaching and learning process and is made to manipulate with materials to discover concept or facts on their own.

According to (Limbu, 2012). Activity method is a technique adopted by a teacher to emphasize his or her method of teaching through activity in which the students participate rigorously and bring about efficient learning experiences. It is a child-centered approach. It is a method in which the child is actively involved in participating mentally and physically. Learning by doing is the main focus in this method. Learning by doing is imperative in successful learning since it is well proved that more the senses are stimulated, more a person learns and longer he/she retains.

In this method, the child is made to interact with learning materials in the classroom or outside the classroom with little or no involvement of teachers' interference. Learners are assisted to learn through all their five senses.

The word lecture comes from the Latin word lectus, from the 14th century, which translates roughly into "to read." The term lecture, then, in Latin, means "that which is read." It wasn't until the 16th century that the word was used to describe oral instruction given by a teacher in front of an audience of learners.

Today, lecturing is a teaching method that involves, primarily, an oral presentation given by an instructor to a body of students. Many lectures are accompanied by some sort of visual aid, such as a slideshow, a word document, an image, or a film. Some teachers may even use a whiteboard or a chalkboard to emphasize important points in their lecture, but a lecture doesn't require any of these things in order to qualify as a lecture. As long as there is an authoritative figure (in any given context) at the front of a room, delivering a speech to a crowd of listeners, this is a lecture. The lecture method is convenient and usually makes the most sense, especially with larger classroom sizes. This is why lecturing is the standard for most college courses, when there can be several hundred students in the classroom at once; lecturing lets professors address the most people at once, in the most general manner, while still conveying the information that he or she feels is most important, according to the lesson plan (Paris & Alim, 2014).

(Ankomah & Hope, 2011), conducted a research in the comparison of public and basic heads. According to their findings, student achievement in public basic schools, as measured by Basic Education Certificate Examinations and Criterion Reference Tests, is lower than that of students in private basic schools. Several factors, including the availability of teaching and learning resources and teacher motivation have been invoked to explain the achievement disparity. Supervision has received limited attention as a factor that contributes to the gap. Their research examined basic school head teachers' supervisory practices to determine whether there is a relationship to the achievement disparity. An independent t-test conducted on private and public-school teachers' response data from the instructional supervision subsection revealed variability in basic school heads exercise of supervision.

(Yusuf & Afolabi, 2010) conducted a research in Nigeria concerning the comparison of public and private school product's performance in mathematics and English language from educational technological perspective. His study examined the influence of a specified primary school education experience on the academic performance of junior secondary students in Methodist Grammar School, Bodija, Ibadan. The private primary schools used were those where instructional materials were used to teach pupils before entry into secondary school. The study involved 100 students of the school with 50 having come in from public primary schools and the other 50 from private primary school where teaching materials are used. The instrument for the study was the teacher made test in English and Mathematics. The data collected were subjected to ttest statistical analysis at 0.05 significant level. The result of the study revealed that students who had private school background outperformed their counterparts who attended public primary schools in English and Mathematics. (Asiedu, 2002), made a comparative study of public and private schools in the provision of quality education at the basic level in urban centres in Ghana. According to his study, private schools with little or no assistance from the state performed better academically than the public schools between 1996 and 2000. The study compared the private schools with the public schools with the view of finding the factors that contribute to the poor academic performances in public schools. The educational process was analyzed as a system composed of educational inputs, process, and output. Eight public and five private schools selected from two urban centres namely Sunyani and Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region were compared. The results of the study indicated that parents' investments and support in their children's education were higher in the private schools than the public schools. The study also found that the parents' investments and support were influenced by the socio-economic background of parents namely income, education, occupation and status. The physical infrastructure of the public schools especially the buildings and classrooms had deteriorated due to neglect and lack of maintenance. Teaching and learning materials in the public schools were inadequate because they depended on government free supplies. The private schools, on the other hand, had adequate textbooks and stationery as well as the teaching materials and equipment. The study involved an examination of headteachers', teachers', and pupils' view on issues that result in disparity of the performance between the public and private basic schools. The researcher selected a number of schools within the Berekum Municipality, and used the descriptive research design.

The population involved all head-teachers, teachers and pupils in the selected schools. Four schools were selected for the study, two public schools: Papase Methodist Basic school and Senase Methodist Basic school, and two private schools: Christ Apostolic Prepartory/JHS and Lincoln preparatory/JHS, all in the Berekum Municipality. The study looked at a total of 4 head-teachers, 20 teachers and 200 pupils from the selected schools.

The researcher used random sampling to select teachers the twenty (20) teachers, five (5) from each school and the same sampling was used to select the two hundred (200) pupils; twenty (20) from each school. The selection of head-teachers was the purposive sampling method since each school has one head.

The data for the study were obtained from the questionnaire the researcher administered. The questionnaires were given to the sample of the study (4 head-teachers, 20 teachers and 200 pupils).

The head-teachers and teacher were allowed to complete the questionnaires at their leisure time. There was a personal contact in the administration of the questionnaires to the students. Data that was obtained from respondents were edited, coded, scored and subject to statistical analysis using Excel and Statistical Product and Service Solution (SPSS).

IV.

Analysis was done using frequencies, percentages and mean scores. The actual respondents who responded to the questions were 214 out of 224 respondents targeted. This represents about 95.5% of the sampled population.

The main focus of the study was to identify factors which affected the academic performance of public and private basic schools in terms availability of teaching and learning materials, extent of supervision, the type of teaching method used and the level of motivation for teachers in these types of school.

This section dealt with the academic and professional qualification of teachers as well as certain competences expected of a teacher in the classroom.

Education is seen by many as the tool that builds up the knowledge capacity of an individual. The higher person's attainment in education the more knowledge he or she is perceived to have. Table 2 shows the highest academic level teachers have attained in both public and private basic schools. As illustrated in Table 2, majority of teachers in the public basic schools has teachers with relatively higher academic qualifications of7(70%) with Diploma in basic Education (Professionals) as compared with about 6(60%) of private basic school teachers with SSCE/WASSCE (nonprofessionals). From Table 2 it was realised that total percentages of 90 public and 90 private school teachers have had education below the first-degree level. Therefore, researchers such as (Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002) findings that the teacher's credential was a factor in determining students' achievements may not be applicable in this research. This was because, if the higher education one has the more knowledge he is perceived to have; then one will be baffled as to why students in the private schools were doing better than those in public basic schools. This established that the level of education of teachers may not always be a reason for better performance.

Volume XIX Issue VI Version I ( G ) The rank of an individual is closely associated with his or her level of education or experience on the job. All teachers in GES entered the service at a certain level and with a particular rank, for example a graduate from the university who had studied education entered GES with a starting rank of principal superintendent, while another person who had not studied education would enter the service at the rank of senior superintendent. While some individuals enter the service based on their level of education, others rise through the ranks based on the number of years they have worked in the service.

Responses from respondents in Table 2 indicated that majority of teachers in the public schools (50%) have reached the rank of principal superintendent while majority of teachers in the private schools (70%) have the least rank which is superintendent. None of the respondents in the public schools had reached the rank of assistant director but 20% of teachers in the private schools had reached the assistant director level. This may be due to the fact that, private schools are at liberty to hire teachers who have retired from active government service.

From Table 2 it was also realized that even though majority of respondents have had a working experience of 0-9 years in both public and private basic schools with percentages of 40% and 60% respectively, private school teachers had 30% of their teachers having a working experience of 30 years and above as against only 10% in public schools. Since experience has been seen to be closely related to the ranks a person may have, this research conflicted with (Darling-Hammond & Youngs, 2002). This was because they were of the view that the credential of the teacher was one of the most important determinants of a child's education. The findings of this research were not in agreement because even though teachers in private schools seem to have more job experience over their public counterparts that may not be entirely the case, this is because teachers in public schools also go on transfers and may acquire different ways of teaching and learning which would in effect bring change in the way they may teach. From the findings in Table 4 it may be said that academic achievement cannot be limited to the teachers rank or experience alone.

Some of the activities that were asked included whether teachers marked assignments, corrections, gave notes, presented lessons systematically, were punctual to class, gave assignments after every lesson, write and speak clearly in class and finally if teaching and learning materials were used to teach in the classrooms.

From the mean scores recorded on Table 3 it was seen that some respondents from both public and private schools either agreed or strongly agreed to the individual items. It came out from the Table that 5% of students in public schools as against 8% of students in private schools disagreed with the fact that teachers marked exercises and returned them on time, while 5% of students in the public strongly disagreed with this same item. In the public only 1% of students disagreed with teachers marking corrections as against 17% of students in the private school, and 2% strongly disagreed to this same item. These denoted that teachers in the public schools were marking correction more than teachers in the private schools. One of the items that had all categories of respondents disagreeing to was whether teachers gave assignments at the end of every topic. To this 15% head teachers, 12% teachers and 12% students in the public schools disagreed, while 3% of students in this same school strongly disagreed. Also 22% of teachers and 26% of students in the private schools disagreed with this same item. More students in the public schools disagreed that their teachers were punctual to class and also disagreed that teachers gave notes for students' revision. Even though all teachers and students in public schools either strongly agreed or agreed that teachers speak clearly in class, 8% of students in the private school disagreed with this. More students in private schools thought that their teachers were not presenting lesson systematically as well.

Sixteen percent of head teachers, 3% teachers and 4% students in the public schools were not in agreement that teachers used teaching and learning materials while 6% of teachers and 13% of students in the private schools agreed with their public counterparts' response. When the percentages of responses from the public schools were combined it was more than the combination of the private schools. This suggested that teaching and learning materials are used in the private schools more than the public schools.

Looking at the responses gathered on teacher quality and competence it was realized that the credentials of a person which directly affected his/her rank in G.E.S was not really what mattered if better achievement was to be realized but actually what teachers did in the classroom. The finding was in agreement with what (Xu and Gulosino 2006) stated that, what teachers did in the classroom was what actually mattered and not necessarily the credentials or ranks of the teacher (Hanushek, 1986). This research finding supported what (Xu & Gulosino, 2006) said, because teachers in the public schools had higher credentials than those in the private schools.

For teaching and learning to be effective and meaningful there was the need for certain important teaching and learning materials to be provided so that parties involved in the teaching and learning process would be efficient. Typical was the fact that the needed text books should be provided so that teachers and pupils would have the means to make better references when the need be. Currently, the JHS programme has subjects which are quite technical and hence the need for schools to provide teachers and students with the The Assessment of the Performance of Public Basic Schools and Private Basic Schools, Ghana needed laboratories and equipment for such subjects. For these reasons the researcher asked head teachers, teachers and students about the availability of some of these needed resources which enhanced teaching and learning and eventually the students' performance. Table 5 provided the responses. Respondents were asked about the availability or non-availability of resources such as text books, library, laboratories for practicals, equipment, illustration materials and writing desks. Majority of head teachers in the public schools agreed that textbooks were available and adequate. Teachers and students had mean scores which indicated that even though textbooks were available they were not adequate. In the private schools, headteachers teachers and students had 57%, 94% and 73% respectively, representing the majority who responded that text books in their schools were available and adequate.

Even though all the three categories of respondents in the public schools agreed that they had libraries in their schools, majority of them thought that they were not adequate, while of headteachers, teachers and students in the private schools responded that they had library facilities which were adequate. Respondents in the public schools had 100% of headteachers, 88% of teachers and 88% of students responding that they did not have laboratories for studies at all. 3% of teachers and 9% of students were uncertain about the availability of laboratories while 9% teachers and 3% students said that they had laboratories but they were not adequate.

On the whole the general remarks as referred from the mean stated that all categories of respondents shared the view that laboratories were nonexistent in public schools. Headteachers and teachers in private schools even though had a great percentage of respondents saying they did not have laboratories for practical's, their responses showed that the laboratories were available not adequate. On the other hand, students in different view of Seventy-one percent were of the view that laboratories were not available at all in their schools.

For the fact that laboratories were not available in these schools one would expect that at least, the equipment for practical would be available so that teachers and students would have access to them even if they were used in the classroom, but this was not the case in the public schools, because they still answered in the negative. Meaning all three categories of respondents had majority of them being of the view that equipment for practical's were not available in the schools at all. In the private schools headteachers and teachers maintained that they had equipment but they were not adequate. This time students also shared this same view. This meant that even though students in private schools disagreed that there were laboratories in their schools, they admitted that equipment for studies were available. All three categories of respondents in both the public and private schools had majority of their respondents agreeing to the fact that the schools had illustration materials available in their schools, but for all respondents, these materials were not adequate.

When asked as to whether there were enough writing desks in both categories of schools, responses given showed clearly that both respondents in public and private schools had adequate writing desks. Indeed 100% of headteachers in public schools agreed that writing desks were adequate and available.

The act of supervision cuts across every step of the school management structure and every manager was a supervisor because he or she oversaw to it that objectives of the school were met. He did this by ensuring that all parties involved were contributing their quota to teaching and learning. In the school setting, the headteacher and teachers provided supervisory roles, just as their colleagues who were circuit officers at the education offices. Circuit supervisors operated externally while headteachers and teachers operated internally.

Effective supervision required close monitoring of teachers' behaviour in the classroom. Indeed the most important task performed by the heads of schools is the provision of purposeful and planned supervision of the school. The supervisor in this context was expected to provide resources and promote formal and informal interactions that would have positive and constructive bearing on the curriculum, teaching, learning and professional development. From the observation made, the mean interpretation of all the items on Table 5 revealed that both heads and teachers in public and private schools were of the view that heads played their supervisory roles very often, with regard to items such as, inspecting lesson notes, lesson plans, scheme of work and teacher attendance, with the exception of headteachers in the private schools who had majority of respondents responding that they inspected lesson notes often. No headteacher thought that they did not supervise any of these activities that teachers perform at all, but 3% of teachers in the public schools were of the view that heads did not inspect lesson notes, lesson plans, schemes of work and teacher attendances at all. Six percent of teachers in the private schools responded that heads did not inspect lesson plans at all, while another 6% said that heads did not inspect their schemes of work at all.

Using the responses gathered, it was realized that supervision on the scale of inspecting the teachers' preparation for teaching and learning was performed by heads of the two categories of school. The finding revealed that headteachers in both schools were carrying out supervision of the above listed items almost in the same manner and that both the public and private headteachers were doing the above items not differently from each other. Heads of schools were not the only individuals who carried out supervision in schools.

In Ghana large proportions of primary schoolteachers have low levels of job satisfaction and are poorly motivated, hence many tens and millions of children are not being taught as they should be (Bennel and Acheampong 2007). Bennel and Acheampong (2007) went on to say that, the work and living environment of many teachers were poor and these lowered their self-esteem as well as demotivating them. Schools in many countries lack basic needs like, water, housing and electricity, staffrooms and even toilets. In the case of Ghana though housing facilities are woefully inadequate, there has been an increase from 5% in 1988 to 30% in 2003.

Maslow (1954) believed that motivation in any form may be classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation was that which gave an individual inner satisfaction, a feeling that could be seen only when expressed outwardly by the individual who felt satisfied, while extrinsic motivation was by Maslow (1954) considered to be material gains given to an individual and which could be seen and appreciated by all, it is in effect tangible.

Headteachers, teachers and students were asked about some intrinsic motivations they believe teachers received in both types of schools. Intrinsic motivations such as good headteacher-teacher relationship, good performance by students, in-service training and the provision of the needed text books were asked, extrinsic motivation such as material and monetary bonuses, accommodation and transportation were also sought from respondents. Table 7 illustrates responses gathered. Maslow (1954) suggested that among the two forms of motivation, intrinsic motivation was most desired and that gave much satisfaction than extrinsic motivation. Arends (1991) agreed with Maslow and said that teachers were better motivated by the performance of their pupils. This he said made them prepare good methodologies and even better instructions for their pupils. True motivation was said to be intrinsic because even though material things were not gained, teachers were satisfied that their efforts have yielded positive results.

Looking Bennel and Acheampong (2007) came out with finding that private school teachers particularly those in the private schools were usually better motivated than their colleagues in government schools as a result of higher pay, better working and living conditions, and more effective management. Bennel and Acheampong's (2007) findings were not entirely the case in this research. This was because apart from salaries of teachers in the private schools which came out to be better, all the other items on motivation that the researcher sought after were seen to be very low or nonexistent in both types of school. Even though headteachers in the private schools agreed that their staff members were provided with transportation services, teachers in these schools disagreed with their headteachers on this same item. This was because many of them said, they had to board the school bus as and when students had to be transported to or from school and most of them were not living on the routes where the buses used, hence did not actually have access to this service.

The findings of this research on motivation was that even though there were not much, differences in the motivation patterns of teachers in both public and private schools, teachers in private school were relatively better motivated because, they had better student performance and had some means of transportation than their public counterparts.

V.

The findings of the study gave evidence that there were disparities in the academic performance of pupils in public and private basic schools in the Berekum Municipality. From the study it was established that both internal and external factors in the classroom and outside the classroom were responsible for the disparities of academic performance in schools. These factors included the fact that public schools did not have the needed teaching and learning resources in order to operate fully in the teaching and learning process.

Teachers in the public schools were also seen to be more qualified professionally than their private counterparts. Private schools were also seen to be better resourced than the public schools due to the fact that monies came directly to the management of the school, hence they were able to apportion these monies in obtaining the resources needed, unlike the public schools who had to wait for money and directives from the government.

Supervision in both public and private school was effective, but supervision was still being done at the inspection level and not really a process where professional development was enhanced. Finally, teachers in the private schools were also better motivated than their public counterparts, this was because, most of them were better paid, had means of transportation due to the provision of school buses, and had students performing well. Teachers in the public schools were demotivated and this sometimes resulted in drastic measures such as strike actions.

VI.

1. Government and GES should as a matter of urgency provide schools with the needed teaching and learning resources, in order to facilitate the teaching and learning process. On the other hand, teachers can improvise these resources which are not readily available. For example, when real objects are not available, teachers can make it a point to draw the objects on cardboards or blackboards for better teaching and learning. 2. Teachers should collaboratively work with their colleagues in fostering professional growth through mentoring relationships. 3. Teachers should assist in the development and implementation of school improvement plans. 4. G. E. S. should improve school management through improved training of headteachers and other teachers with substantive management responsibility in order for them to function more effectively in their respective positions. 5. Circuit supervisors should be adequately motivated and given the necessary input materials in order to carry out their duties effectively especially in the private schools. 6 Heads and owners (proprietors) of private schools should make it their major concern to give their staff in-service training from time to time as well as sponsor their teachers for further studies. needs were not met, higher order motivations like selfactualization would also not be met. This was because man's needs for survival made the quest for extrinsic motivation very important in a teacher's life, therefore both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were equally important for man's survival.

Based on the results in Table 7, it was noted that most of the intrinsic motivators were having positive results, because from responses gathered, both headteachers and teachers agreed to the fact that they had good working relationship with each other. Students in both types of schools were seen to be performing better in their examinations. Indeed, heads and teachers in the private schools strongly agreed that their students' excellent performances during the B.E.C.E. examinations gave them the strength to move on, even when conditions were and still are not totally desirable. Respondents in the public schools agreed to the above statement because, they were of the view that their students were performing better with each passing year and that gave them the hope that things would be better as time went on.