...into distribution of textbooks in rural areas
Breman-Asikuma (C/R), Jan. 15, GNA- Ms Christine Churcher, Minister of State for Basic, Secondary and Girl-child education, on Wednesday, called on District Chief Executives and chiefs in rural communities to probe the distribution of textbooks in their areas, to help stem the falling standard of education.
She described as "unpardonable and unforgivable", the situation where many schools in the area scored zero per cent in the BECE while the government, was spending huge amounts to improve facilities and provide the necessary learning materials in all schools.
Ms Churcher made the call at this year's "People's Assembly" at Breman-Asikuma when the Headteacher of the Breman-Jamra Anglican Primary/JSS, Mr Isaac Kingsley Okine, expressed concern about the falling standards of education in rural schools, as shown by the results of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Mr Okine was unhappy about the poor performance of schools in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa district where six schools scored zero percent in the last BECE, and urged teachers to be more committed to their duties. He, therefore, called on the government to provide the requisite logistics and incentives, since according to him, although the government was providing the necessary infrastructure like new school blocks, it had "not done enough to provide learning materials like textbooks".
Ms Churcher intimated that it was the policy of the government that each pupil was provided with a textbook for each core subject, like mathematics, English and science, and that most schools have been provided with their consignments.
She called on the District Chief Executives and the chiefs, particularly in communities where their schools scored zero percent, to probe the causes.
Nana Menyako Mantey, a sub-chief at Breman-Asikuma, expressed concern about what he described as inadequate information about the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), and stressed the need for the situation to be addressed, to enable all Ghanaians to know what it entails before it was launched.
Nana Mantey expressed concerned about inadequate marketing avenues for farmers, most of whom he said, found it difficult to sell their products, and asked the government to create centres in the various districts, where farmers could easily sell, instead of doing so through market queens.
Mr Charles Nkrumah, a businessman, tasked the government to come out with a housing policy to help address the accommodation problem and high rent advance payments by workers.
Mr Isaac Edumadze, the Regional Minister, said the government would do everything possible to improve the roads in the region and that most of the roads in the district had been given on contract. He dismissed accusations that the government was doing politics with its development projects, particularly with regard to the construction of roads.
He announced that electricity would soon be extended to more communities in the district.
Mr Sampson Anfako, the District Chief Executive, said the Assembly had constructed 40 school buildings and also provided more than 1,000 dual desks for schools in the area with funds from the GETFund, the European Union (EU), District Assemblies' Common fund and the HIPC relief fund, He said under the rural and community water and sanitation programme, supported by the EU, a total of 50 bore holes and hand-dug wells had also been provided.
Some 3,000 hectares of cassava have been cultivated in three communities under the President's Special Initiative (PSI) and that 1,000 cocoa farmers have benefited from the mass cocoa spraying exercise.
On health delivery, he said 313 million cedis had been provided under the HIPC fund to cater for expectant mothers, while 250 million cedis had also been made available for the NHIS in the district.
