Good education is key to crime reduction - parents told

Kasoa, Aug. 1, GNA - The Awutu Senya Municipal Director of Education, Mr K. A. Afful, on Saturday said parents' interest to see their wards climb up higher on the educational ladder was of prime necessity to crime reduction.

He said to prevent Ghana from being saddled with increased crime such as armed robbery, it was important for parents to educate their children to the highest level in order for them to lead exemplary life. Mr Afful said this in a speech read for him by Mr Kwame Asare-Bediako Sarpong, Asssistant Municipal Director, Basic Education/Special Education at the first graduation day ceremony of His Grace Preparatory and Junior High School.

Thirty nine (39) students graduated. The ceremony was under the theme: "Academic Excellence and Cultural Heritage". Mr Afful said education provides the anchor from which children would hold fast against the storms of life for that reason parents should support them by all means possible.

He expressed concern about the lavish spending by some parents, which he said, has denied their wards essential tools for learning adding that instead of spending on cloths for special occasions, such funds could be channelled into the family's education fund. He commended private school for their role in the sector and said their performance far outweighed that of the public schools, even though he did not provide any figures to support his claim. Mr Joshua Ampong, Director of the school, appealed to government through the Ministry of Education to reconsider the call for private schools to also enjoy proceeds of the GETFund.

He said in order to sustain Ghana's heritage, all pupils and students of the school have been directed to dress in their tribal attire to school every first Friday of month.

Mr Ampong said recent events clearly showed that the youth have developed a stronger taste for foreign culture and therefore would be proper to inculcate into them their cultural values. He said the school aims at achieving this objective as well as promoting peaceful co-existence among all tribes and religions in the school