"Book knowledge" alone is not enough for student's success

Tamale, Oct. 24, GNA - Mr. Zakaria Sulemana, Director of Education for Empowerment at Ibis, has said that knowledge acquired solely through classroom work was not enough for secure success for students especially, the girl child in the 21st century world.

He said skills development and knowledge sharing among colleague students and good attitudes were the needed additional impetuses for the proper development of the individual to fit well into the job market. Mr. Sulemana was addressing an opening ceremony of a three-day Ibis/GES Girl's Educational clinic in Tamale on Friday. The camp which is the third of its kind, had this year brought together 115 girls drawn from eight districts of two regions; Northern and Brong Ahafo regions.

It aimed at giving the students the opportunity to interact and share ideas with their colleagues, teach them about reproductive health and career development amongst others. "There are countless examples of very brilliant boys and girls who unfortunately had to abandon school because they did not have the necessary skills and attitudes to enable them to fight the bad influences of life", Mr. Sulemana said.

Mr. Sulemana added that without such knowledge, some of the girls would end up pregnant; others contracting incurable diseases and many others would simply leave school for short-term imaginary pleasures. He said women were an asset to the community, the family and the entire nation hence the need to give them opportunity for them to develop themselves.

Mrs. Matilda Bannerman-Mensah, Director of Girls Education Unit of Ghana Education Service (GES), noted that issues affecting girl's education required both the support of the government and other stakeholders. She said retention of the girl-child in schools in deprived districts was a major problem the government was battling with adding that: "It could negatively affect their education". Mrs. Bannerman promised that GES would take the camp of the girls seriously as a means to improve their development. There were testimonies from Education Directors that previous girl's camps organized by Ibis had help improve the personality development of the benefactors.