RME should be made examinable - Archbishop Sarpong

Kumasi, Aug. 30, GNA - Most Reverend Peter Kwasi Sarpong, Emeritus Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Kumasi, has underlined the need for the Ministry of Education to ensure that Religious and Moral Education (RME) becomes an examinable subject in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

He said it should not be lost on anybody the importance of religious and moral education in the holistic formation of the student.

He said RME helps to inculcate into them self-discipline, respect for authority and the fear of God, which are "very important ingredients in the delivery of quality education."

Archbishop Sarpong was delivering a paper on "Religious and Moral Education - an important factor in the holistic formation of a person in the delivery of quality education", at the opening of the National Conference of Heads of Private Second Cycle Schools in Kumasi.

The Conference attended by over 100 delegates was under the theme "Delivery of quality pre-university education - the role of private schools."

Archbishop Sarpong attributed the excellent performance of the Mission schools in the WASSCE to the strict regimen of training they receive in religious and moral education.

He said the subject has been helping these schools to produce academically and morally upright students.

Schools such as Wesley Girls', Opoku Ware, Saint James Seminary as well as Prempeh and Saint Augustine's Colleges had over the years maintained good track record due to their discipline and high level of religious and moral education.

Archbishop Sarpong was not happy about what he termed as the discrimination against private institutions in the allocation of resources by government.

"I do not think that it is fair and just to the parent who sends his or her child to a private institution to be forced to use his or her money on expenses which could have been borne by government as pertaining in public schools such as textbooks.

"It is my candid opinion that whatever amount of money is spent by government on a child in a public school should be made available to a child in a private school".