U/E Regional Directorate of Education concerned about Encroachment

Bolgatanga, April 4, GNA- The Upper East Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayire Mwinkaar, on Wednesday expressed concern about the spate of encroachment on school lands by some communities in the Region.

She made the statement at a one-day Participatory Land Management Capacity Building Workshop organised in Bolgatanga for 21 Chiefs drawn from the three Northern Regions and other stakeholders.

Mrs. Mwinkaar noted that there were instances where some community members had to drive teachers and pupils away, claiming that the land on which the schools were built belonged to them.

She also gave an example, where fence walls of schools were demolished and trees uprooted by some communities. She indicated that the Saint John Bosco Training College in Navrongo, which was to be upgraded into a Diploma awarding school, was also under threat as some members of the local community were threatening to take over the school land.

Mrs. Mwinkaar urged chiefs and Tedamas who are the custodians of the land to persuade people in the communities to desist from such acts, since it does not create healthy development. She called on stakeholders in Land Management to ensure that school children were involved in their activities since they were the future leaders and must be trained to manage the environment in a more responsible manner.

Professor Albert Abane, a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, cautioned the chiefs in the three Northern Regions that their subjects would run to seek greener pastures in the southern part of the country, if they did not embark on pragmatic strategies to curb the spate of desertification in the area. 4 April 07