Eight districts exceed enrolment target in the country

Wa, Oct. 6, GNA - Only eight out of the 138 districts in the country exceeded their enrolment targets this year, Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports has said. As a result, he said a national campaign and other educational mechanisms would be put in place to encourage enrolments at all levels and districts in the country.

Mr. Baah-Wiredu announced this at Wa on Wednesday when he addressed about 200 teachers during a commissioning ceremony of a 30-unit hostel block of the Upper West Regional Secretariat of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).

The block, which took two years to be completed is valued at 1.7 million cedis from the contributions and levies on teachers in the region.

Mr. Baah-Wiredu said the presidential white paper on education would soon be out and made available for public scrutiny and called on the public to study it well to provide inputs for the development of the teacher.

He said the Government has also provided a total of nine billion cedis for improvement works in 40 deprived schools in the country. Mr. Sahanun Mogtari, Upper West Regional Minister said the Regional Education Office in collaboration with various district assemblies, in the region had provided numerous classroom blocks and called on teachers to reciprocate the gesture by encouraging their pupils in school. He said the Government would come out with more measures that would attract more young people to go into the teaching profession.

Mr. Mogtari said teachers should hold themselves in high esteem and lead lives worthy of emulation.

Mrs. Irene Duncan Adanusah, General Secretary of GNAT said the GNAT hierarchy is considering coming out with unions at all levels to make it a mouthpiece at the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

She said the Regional GNAT Secretariat would soon construct a restaurant to take care of visitors to the hostel.