Queen's visit will earn us respect - pupils

Enthusiastic children who were privileged to host Queen Elizabeth II in their La Wireless Cluster of Schools, said on Monday the visit would raise the image of their school and remain in their memories forever.

In an interview with the GNA, Miss Veronica Quarcoo, a student of Wireless Four Junior Secondary School said: "I am very excited about the Queen's visit because our colleagues from the other schools would respect us.

"They often tease us that our school is inferior because of the shift system and we interact in vernacular.

"But, since we learnt about the visit, we have been speaking English with our friends and our language has improved".

Miss Quarcoo, however, said the school needed more text books and a library complex and expressed the hope that teachers who are not hardworking would improve their output since they are now in the limelight.

She said her family and friends would be told this "nice experience and I would tell my children in future because my parents told us about the Queen's first visit".

Master Isaac Mawudor, Wireless Six JSS said: "They call us 'Leebi and Hwane' because of the shift system and they laugh at us. Now they will respect us".

For Miss Joyce Acquah, who gave a brief welcoming address before the Queen inspected some books, the visit was not enough.

"I would have liked to ask her to take me to Britain because I can see she is a very nice lady." Miss Acquah was, however, proud of the role she played.

The pupils entertained the Queen with various cultural and academic activities, which they had rehearsed for about eight weeks.

During this period, they had their school blocks repainted in two shades of brown just like the uniforms.

The school gardens were also groomed while white-washed stones were arranged in strategic places to brighten the schools' compound, but the red gravelled and dusty ground leaves much to be desired.

To help them to carry these events in memory forever, the 31st December Women's Movement donated plastic jugs with the portraits of the Queen and President Rawlings, and these, some vowed to keep perpetually.

The teachers, who had worked day and night to prepare them for the event, hugged each other and congratulated Mrs Rose Ankrah, the Metropolitan Director of Education.

" It has been worth the efforts and I was impressed with the Queen. She looks much younger than her age and she walks briskly", Mrs Galdys Awuma, an Assistant Director of Education said.

The La Wireless cluster of nine primary and seven JSS schools with a pupil population of 3,400 and 91 teachers and seven headteachers, was built in the early 1950s.

A consultant to the Ministry of Education said the school's selection for the Queen's visit was due to its high population, its typical characteristics as an urban public school and its proximity to the Labadi Beach Hotel where the queen is lodging.

The schools have also benefited from the Department For International Development-Ministry of Education Book Distribution Scheme.

In line with its education policy, Britain has provided a 50 million- pound grant for the purchase of English and local language readers for the 14,000 public primary schools in the country. Atlases have been bought for the 7,000 JSS.

The distribution of the supplementary reader, written by African writers and foreign authors and recommended by both teachers and pupils, started in June this year and is expected to be completed in December.

Every pupil in public school is expected to have access to at least two of the books at any period to either read in school or borrow for a few days.

There is also an exchange programme between some schools to ensure maximum use of the books and narrow the pupil to book ratio, which was an average of three to one before the distribution scheme.

Part of the money is being used for in-service training of teachers to promote effective teaching and learning, monitoring and supervision and also, the proper handling of the books.