Chief says government should fund non-formal education
A traditional ruler in the Upper West Region has appealed to the government to resource the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) to educate the rural people to address issues that militate against their development.
Naa Seidu Braimah, the Guli Naa, said the government’s “Better Ghana” agenda concept would not achieve results if majority of the citizenry were illiterates and did not know what goes around them.
Naa Saidu Braimah, who is also a Council of State Member, said this at a forum to select best facilitators and learners of the NFED in Wa on Tuesday.
He said Ghana would not develop at the pace that the government would want to see it if NFED was cash starved and could not deliver on its mandate and vision.
He said education was a birth right and therefore disagreed with the some provisions in Ghana’s Constitution which stated that the provision of education should be subject to the availability of resources.
“Wherever the resources are the government must endeavour to look for them to fund NFED to educate those who, for no fault of theirs, did not have access to formal education to improve their horizons and contribute effectively to national development” he said.
Naa Seidu Braimah said out of illiteracy, many Ghanaians voted for some politicians who turned out to be albatross around their necks.
He appealed to district assemblies in the region to help finance literacy programmes from their share of common fund, adding that this would encourage the people to understand the need to pay taxes regularly and also keep their environment clean to avoid malaria.
Alhaji Issahaque Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, said the Ministry of Education had been tasked to carry out its vision of using quality education delivery to accelerate the nation’s socio-economic development.
He said the type of education that the government was looking for was the one that was more relevant to national goals and aspirations, focusing on vocational and technical education for all Ghanaians especially the disadvantaged.
Source: GNA