Parents urged to supplement Capitation Grant

Nkawkaw, May 23, GNA - The Kwahu West District Director of Education, Mr Seth Koranteng, has called on parents to supplement the Capitation Grant to finance basic education of their children and wards. He said since the Grant catered for a large percentage of the basic education bill such as school fees, text books, sports and culture, parents should contribute to provide exercise books, school uniforms, pens, pencils and other inputs to ensure effective teaching and learning at the basic schools.

Mr Koranteng was speaking at the inauguration of the Kwahu West branch of the Government Accountability Improved Trust II, (GAIT II)/ Education Quality for All (EQUALL), a five-year collaborative activity between the Ghana Government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at Nkawkaw.

He said the programme was to strengthen democratic and decentralized governance through civic involvement and increased community advocacy for quality education.

The District Director explained that the objectives of GAIT II/EQUALL was to strengthen District Assembly capacity for democratic governance, improved community advocacy for all and also contribute towards quality education in the district.

He said since the government alone could not finance basic education for the large number of the country's children parents and communities should contribute their quota to educate the nation's children for them to become responsible future adults to lead the nation.

Mrs Salome Gyamfi-Afrifa, an Assistant Planning Officer of the Assembly said funds would be allocated to support Non Governmental organizations (NGOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBO) to create awareness on the need for participation in local governance.

She said strategies to improve reading and other fundamentals of quality education, include purchasing of more reading books, provision of adequate and relevant teaching and learning materials, the establishment of mini library in pilot schools and organizing of reading competitions among schools to improve educational standards in the district.

The District Chief Executive, Nana Kofi Kese, said the district is among 25 selected districts for the GAIT II programme to support 447 schools develop and implement school performance improvement plans (SPIP).

He said since education was the bed rock of every nation's development, all stakeholders involved should embrace the programme and contribute their quota to ensure its success and a higher standard of education in the district.