Avoid profane programmes during festivals- Akuapem Kyidomhene

Mamfe, June 1, GNA- Nana Ansah Sasraku III, Kyidomhene of the Akuapem Traditional Area, on Monday urged chiefs and traditional leaders to guard against programmes that tend to promote immorality among the youth during their annual festivals and traditional celebrations. "We as the traditional leaders must complement the efforts of others in trying to shape the future of the youth and therefore must not create platforms through our annual programmes for them to indulge in immoral acts," he said.

Nana Ansah Sasraku, who was launching the first round of grants to beneficiaries of the Akuapem Community Foundation (CF) at Mamfe, aimed at raising the standards of education, said the fallen standards calls for stringent measures. He announced that "Leavers night", "jams" and other programmes that Junior High School students organize after completing their courses had been banned by the traditional council and questioned the essence in jubilating after Junior High School (JHS). The Kyidomhene charged parents and all stakeholders in education to impress upon the youth that JHS was not the end of the education cycle, adding that, people in Akuapem cannot pride themselves in any natural resources that would give them a better future than educating their children.

Professor Edwin Gyasi, a lecturer at the University of Ghana (UG) and the Vice President of the CF said the foundation was instituted in 2005 by eminent and learned citizens from the 17 Akuapem towns to raise funds to support the improvement of education, health and the general wellbeing of children, and the youth, especially on the ridge to maintain the heritage of Akuapems.

He said alarmed with the sorry performance of pupils of Akuapem at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and the attendant prospect of dwindling numbers of Akuapem students at the tertiary institutions, eminent citizens came together to contribute their time, talent and treasure to the improvement of education. According to Prof Gyasi, the CF had instituted best pupil awards at the basic level and donated over 5,000 pieces of dictionaries in Mathematics, Science and English to pupils on the ridge and also paid grants to many children to remain in school. Prof Gyasi announced that "our efforts has achieved its objective by reducing the zero percent scored in BECE from 1999 to 2004 in 31 schools in both Akuapem North and South to only nine at the onset of operations of the CF.

Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister, who was elated with the efforts of the citizens of Akuapem to complement the efforts of government in education, said the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) had also put measures in place to address the fallen standards of education in the whole Region.

He said to help inculcate reading habits among pupils and students, he had tasked all district and municipal assemblies to provide standard libraries in their schools. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said reviewing education was "a charge to keep" for all Akuapems because education and civility started from the area and pledged his support to the CF to ensure that zero scores were eradicated from the Region.

Two school pupils whose legs were amputated after a car accident were presented the first grants of GHC 500 cedis each for payment of prosthetic limbs and to cater for their three months admission at the Nsawam prosthetic centre. The two children went out to look for scrap metals after school, a normal practice to get money to supplement their education, but unfortunately they were knocked down by a car and in the process their legs had to be amputated to save their lives.