Don't yield to call to abolish Mission Education Units-Bishop

Kumasi April 16, GNA---The Right Reverend Nuh Ben Abubekr, Methodist Bishop of Kumasi, has asked government not to yield to calls by a section of the Ghanaian society to abolish the Mission Education Units.

It should also stave off any move to take over the Mission schools and their lands.

The Rt. Rev. Abubekr noted that the reasons that influenced the education partnership between government and religious bodies culminating in the passage of the 1882 Education Ordinance were as valid and relevant today as they were in those times. He was speaking at the first ever Diocesan Education Week Celebration in Kumasi at the weekend.

The theme was: "Arresting Poor Performance in Schools, the role of the Church and the Teacher." The Diocesan Bishop said the church was determined to serve as a more useful and reliable partner of the State to promote wholesome education the Ghanaian children, particularly the rural poor and disadvantaged.

It is in the light of this that it has introduced various financial assistance packages for brilliant but needy pupils at all levels of education and involved in the construction of structures, supply of furniture, computers and other vital teaching and learning inputs to schools.

The Church currently operates 45 pre-schools, 66 primary schools and 26 Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in the diocese.

Rt. Rev. Abubekr used the occasion to appeal to Metropolitan and District Assemblies to include mission schools in their education institutions rehabilitation programmes.

"Let us all accept that it is only through the promotion of effective partnership among all stakeholders that the nation could be assured of the development and delivery of quality education".