Mampong (Ashanti), 7th May ?99 ?
Mr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, Minister of Education, has called on the people of Ashanti, particularly the wealthy, to invest in education rather than in material wealth.
He said investment in education pays in the end, and as such, the people must make conscious efforts to invest in that sector.
Mr Spio-Garbrah made the call when he addressed staff of the district education offices at Mamponten in the Kwabre district, Agona in the Afigya-Sekyere district and Asante-Mampong in the Sekyere West district on the last day of his three-day visit to Ashanti on Wednesday.
The Education Minister said so important is education that the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, himself has made it one of his priorities, while other chiefs in the region as well as the churches were ready to assist.
He was convinced the cultural drive, wealth and entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Ashanti, when combined with education, can turn the whole economy, not only of the region, but the country round.
The Minister said the involvement of chiefs, opinion leaders, communities and parent-teacher associations (PTAs) will help raise the standard and quality of education in the region.
At Mamponten, Mr A. Y. Boafor, District Director of Education, told the Minister, that in a baseline test conducted this year, 24 per cent of pupils passed in English while 19.8 per cent passed in Mathematics.
He said in last year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), only seven pupils obtained aggregate six out of about 1,000 candidates that sat the examination.
He expressed concern about the lack of a science resource centre in the district for senior secondary schools and said, even though, a lot of preparations were made to open the centre at Aduman Secondary school, the Ghana Education Service (GES) did not approve of it and asked for the Minister?s approval of the project.
