Education remains most powerful tool for economic transformation – Minister
Upper West Regional Minister Alhaji Sulemana Alhassan has urged young people to see education as a priority since it remains a potent weapon for economic transformation and the speedy development of every society.
“There is no society that can advance and be able to cope with the dictates of global trends without paying attention to its culture and education”.
He added that “culture and education are bed fellows in our contemporary world”.
Alhaji Alhassan was speaking during the celebration of 42nd “Kobine Festival” of the people and chiefs of Lawra.
He said the government had instituted pragmatic education policies and programmes to tackle challenges in the education sector.
It was poised to address the country’s physical infrastructure deficit in the education sector through construction and maintenance of classroom blocks as well as the supply of furniture and other logistics to schools.
The Minister said steps were being taken to make sure that the quality of education was not compromised with the introduction of the free Senior High School (SHS) policy.
The government had introduced a “Double Track System” to deal with the increased student admission following the introduction of free education policy in senior high schools in 2017.
Alhaji Alhassan said the Ghana School Feeding Programme was receiving much attention than before with school enrolment in the Lawra Municipality growing by 14,457 and covering almost all Primary and Kindergarten schools in the municipality.
Naa Puowele Karbo III, the Paramount Chief of Lawra Traditional Area, said quality education was the hallmark for human resource development in every community – a vehicle for achieving knowledge and skill development.
He expressed worry over falling standards of education in the area, saying that, “the declining standard of education in our municipality over the years has been a major concern to our development which needs to be tackled hands on”.
He was also unhappy about the neglect of parental responsibilities towards education of children as well as the lukewarm attitude of some chiefs and community leaders to school management.
Naa Karbo III called on stakeholders to play their expected roles well to lift education in the municipality and to ensure that no child was denied education.
Source: GNA