Northern chiefs attend conference on education

Tamale, Aug 18, GNA - The Yagbon-Wura, Bawa Doshie II, Paramount Chief of the Gonja Traditional Area, on Monday called on traditional rulers to reach out to their communities to ensure the expansion and improvement in education for all children, especially the girl-child.

He said as custodians of culture and tradition, chiefs should work towards the elimination of cultural practices that inhibit the education of girls or create disparities in primary and secondary education. Yagbon-Wura Doshie made the call in a speech read for him at a conference of chiefs on education in Tamale.

He said the Northern Region, which is the biggest in the country in terms of landmass, has one of the lowest literacy rates and that culture, tradition, conflicts and religion has accounted for this state of affairs.

"Despite interventions by NGOs and programmes by the Ghana Education Service there is little improvement, which is attributable to the lack of collaboration among education providers and the low involvement of stakeholders."

The Northern Region House of Chiefs in collaboration with the Northern Network for Education Development (NNED), an NGO, organized the two-day conference on the theme: "Education for all campaign - The role of chiefs in achieving the set goals by 2015", with sponsorship from the Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF).

About 60 participants made up of chiefs from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions, representatives of the Ghana Education Service, NNED and CEF, are attending the forum.

Yagbon-Wura Doshie said traditional rulers have been the embodiment of the moral and ritual purity of their people, adding, "they are a fulcrum for mobilisation and a symbol of security and untiy".

He expressed the hope that from their discourse at the conference the traditional rulers would have reached a qualitative indicator of modifying or abolishing outmoded customary practices that inhibit the education of children, especially, the girl-child.

Mr. Ernest Debrah, the Northern Regional Minister, said as much as the woes of the region may be ascribed to low level of education, there is ample evidence and justification to attribute some of the problems to greed, jealousy and negligible fellow-feeling.

"I am sometimes amazed to see educated colleagues drumming the song of violence and confusion when actually they should know better the significance of peace to development.

"The bulk of the blame for social failures lies with the educated among us because they are unable to let society reap the benefits of their education through judicious advice to the ill-informed members of the society", he said.

Mr Debrah told the forum that it is not for political gimmicks and expediency that the government always emphasizes the need for peace, saying, "the objective is to create a serene environment that will promote good neighbourliness, love, unity and above all, sustainable development".

Stressing on peace, he said, "there is no need to call on people to invest in the education of their children in an atmosphere of rancour, bitterness, hatred and envy".

"The cherished dreams we have for ourselves and our children can only materialize if we uphold our collective responsibility to cultivate the virtue of nurturing peace in our communities and among ourselves. "In a turbulent environment, no individual would enjoy the fruits of his or her labour and everyone is eventually caught in the web of quagmire", he said.

Mr Debrah commended the chiefs for their participation in the forum noting that it shows how committed they are in helping find solutions to the problems of ignorance, low level of education, indiscipline disease and poverty facing Northern Ghana.

He said: "these are problems whose solution do not lie with the government alone but requires the concerted efforts of all stakeholders, including chiefs, opinion leaders, politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs and indeed, parents".

The Regional Minister noted that since chiefs are the custodians of the country's traditional practices they have a greater role to play in collaborating with the government to seek solutions to these problems. "In complementing government's efforts, chiefs should endeavour to discourage customary practices that have the potential to perpetuate ignorance, poverty and the suffering of some of our people", he stressed.

Mr Debrah urged the chiefs to develop great interest in the functions of the district assemblies and their sub-structures, saying that it is through these structures that information on grassroots problems, particularly youth education, can easily be addressed.

Hajia Adisa Munkaila, chairperson of NNED, said in an address read for her said her NGO is an initiative of civil society organizations, including GNAT, TUC, private institutions and eminent individuals and in collaboration with the Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service and the Regional House of Chiefs of Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

Hajia Munkaila said with a membership of 40, NNED aims at harnessing the collective efforts of people and groups with interest in Northern Ghana to mobilise their resources to address challenges facing education in the area.

She said within its two years of existence, NNED has researched into key educational issues in Northern Ghana and sensitised stakeholders on the "education for all" goals, among other activities. Mr Sulemana Zakaria, a representative of CEF, said that education for all is "a global march" for which the country and Northern Ghana in particular, cannot be left behind.