The Ahanta West District Assembly in the Western Region has ordered the closure of all gambling centres in the area as part of efforts to make the youth to concentrate on their studies.
The District Assembly is putting in place a number of stringent measures in place to ensure that the youth in the District took education serious.
Mr Joseph Dofoyenah, the District Chief Executive, said this when he addressed a parade at the Stanford Bridge stadium, at Agona Nkwanta, on Sunday during Ghana's 59th Independence Day Celebration on the theme, “Investing in the Youth for Ghana’s Transformation”.
The DCE urged stakeholders, parents and guardians to support the Assembly to ensure the success of the exercise to help “check the phenomenon which is diverting the minds of our school children from their books to gambling centres”.
Twenty-three first and second cycle institutions and voluntary organisations formed the parade to mark the celebration in the District.
It was attended by traditional rulers, security agencies, heads of departments, assembly members and some community members.
Traders such as sugar cane sellers and some comedians thrilled the audience by displaying their wares during the march past.
The DCE said the Assembly procured five motor bikes for the District Education Directorate to enhance effective monitoring and supervision by circuit supervisors to improve the standard of education in the District.
He called on parents/guardians to show keen interest in their wards' education and actively participate in the activities and programmes of their schools.
He also called for the strengthening of the School Management Committees in the basic schools.
For the District’s youth to have gainful employment, Mr Dofoyenah said the Assembly was investing in them by sponsoring twenty of them including three females to the National Vocational Training Institute to train in various courses that would equip them in employable skills to make them marketable.
Touching on the impending presidential and parliamentary elections, the DCE called on all eligible voters to turn out in their numbers to exercise their franchise.
Mr George Kwame Aboagye, the Member of Parliament for the area, admonished the youth to set an agenda of improving their lot and work towards achieving it by refraining from social vices that could mar their lives.
