Education in Ghana is in crisis- Dr Asante

Education in Ghana is in crisis because many children who enrol in schools drop out. Even when they graduate they can hardly read, write or speak the English language correctly, Dr K. B. Asante, a retired diplomat, said on Tuesday.

He said many children were being badly educated and there was the need to tackle the issue since education is the key to national development.

Dr Asante was speaking at the launch in Accra of the Jerron-Quarshie Educational Foundation Fund set up by a couple, and Samuel Jerron-Quarshie from La, Accra, to provide funds for the award of scholarships to needy and brilliant children.

The Foundation is in memory of the late Edwin Jerron-Quarshie, a businessman and father of Samuel Jerron-Quarshie. He urged Gas to take up the challenge of educating their children who are roaming the streets of Accra "unkempt, unschooled and untutored".

"The most precious property we have for the children is what we put in their heads," he said. Dr Asante, therefore, urged Ghanaians not to spend huge sums of money on funerals, building of monuments as memorials to their ancestors and parents but invest in education as their contribution to national development.

He paid tribute to the late Edwin, a prison mate of the First President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who fought for Ghana's independence.

Jerron-Quarshie said his father devoted his time to helping the needy in society and that the Foundation would start with seed money of 80m cedis and a yearly provision of 150 million cedis.