Tema West Municipal Education Directorate holds Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

The Tema West Municipal Directorate of Education on Thursday held its maiden edition of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols as part of activities marking the Christmas festivities.

The service also commemorated the first anniversary of the Tema West Education Directorate.

The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols brought a more imaginative approach to worship and a definitive account of the biblical Christmas story with glorious selection of carols.

A unique feature of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, was the profound lessons, read in various languages including French, which provided a chronology of events leading to the birth of Christ.

Participants, including members of staff of the Education Directorate, teachers and students were serenaded by soothing carols from the Tema Senior High School (TEMASCO) choir.

The nine lessons, interspersed with rather calming carols and choreography, were read by various representatives of the Education Directorate.

Madam Theresa Tetteh, Human Resources Manager, Tema West Municipal Education Directorate, in a welcoming address, thanked her colleagues for their full participation and said "there is nothing more fulfilling than God's goodness and endless love for humanity which requires us to rejoyce."

She said the event was opportune as it coincided with the first anniversary of the Education Directorate and provided an even bigger opportunity to honour retirees who had dedicated themselves in the last years.

Mr Francis Steele, Tema West Municipal Director of Education, who read the ninth lesson from John 1:1-14, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the event would be an annual undertaking by Directorate to climax its activities.

Reverend Father Dennis Opoku, the Chaplain of TEMASCO, in an exhortation from Luke 2:10, said the birth of Christ was a sign of abundance which required Christians not to be afraid of or dismayed by the thing that befall them especially Covid-19.

The story of the birth of Christ, he said, revealed a new order - a world under the direction of God's design for the redemption of all people.

He noted that the coming of Jesus Christ brought optimism for the oppressed and accompanying joy, and said, "God has not forgotten or abandoned us to the brokenness we have created."

Therefore, he said, Christmas was an announcement of hope and a call to humility.

Present at the event was theTema Metro Director of Education, Mrs Bernice Ofori, the Headmaster of TEMASCO, Mr Emmanuel Kobina Baido, and other Heads of Basic and Second Cycle Institutions.