GOVERNMENT’S FREE EXERCISE BOOKSAND 30 COMPUTERS TO SCHOOL CHILDREN OUTDOORED IN THE TANO SOUTH DISTRICT

As part of its campaign promise to improve the quality of education in the country, the government of President J.E.A. Mills has fulfilled a campaign promise to the good people of Ghana to supply free exercise books to school children.

In a welcoming speech at an impressive ceremony to outdoor the first tranche of exercise books and computers at Bechem, the De

puty District Director of Education for Tano South Mr. Marcus Sarpong said the outdooring of the exercise books is the first of its kind in the district and this attest to the true fact that there is first thing in everything.

Mr. Sarpong enumerated some of the achievements of the education set up in the Tano South District. He mentioned the under listed successes of the dis

trict in some competitions organized in the Region in the year 2009.

· Choral Music - First in the Brong Ahafo Region

· Sight Singing - First in the B

rong Ahafo Region

· Poetry recital - Fourth in the Region

On examinations, Mr. Sarpong said the Tano South District was first in the region in the BECE in 2009 and was third in the whole country. The Deputy District Director of Education said all these achievements could not have been possible without the support of some organizations. He mentioned the Tano South District Assembly and said the Hon. District Chief Executive have been supportive in the following ar

eas.

· STME

· Mock Examinations

· School infrastructural

· School feeding

Mention was also made of SODIA an NGO and IBIS/TOMS who have also been of tremendous help to the district in the field of education. Mr. Sarpong said though through these interventions and achievements, there are some challenges the district directorate o

f education is facing which includes the following.

· Permanent office for Ghana Educati

on Service - Tano South District

· Permanent classroom for Girls Model School at Bechem

· Accommodation for te

achers in deprived area

The Tano South District Chief Executive Hon Bukari Zakari Anaba in a speech to outdoor the exercise books and the computers before handing them ove

r to the District Education Directorate for distribution to schools, said improving the quality of education

of our children is a contribution to the building of a better Ghana Agenda for our famil

ies and for our country a

s a whole. He said, the task of providing standard education for all our chil

dren nationwide is immense, but government is very much committed to provide quality education to every Ghanaian child.

The government he said has put in place a lot of policies to make education accessible, this he said includes the increase in the capitation grant and the expansion of educational facilities across the country with Tano South District as no exception a two new school blocks have been put up. As a key

component of the FCUBE policy, the District Chief Executive said the free school uniforms and exercise books together with the increase in the capitation grant would go a long way to cushion all parents so th

at some financial pressure is taken off their shoulders and cautioned that the exercise books are free but not for sale.

In an advice to parents, the DCE said that the provision of quality education should not be the responsibility of government alone but rather it should be a shared responsibility between government and parents and entreated parents to be very diligent in making sure that all their wards are enrolled in school and said they cannot get the maximum benefit of these exercise books if they do not attend classes all the time.

The District Chief Executive advised the pupils to do their best to make use of the exercise books and try to be in school on time. He again entreated the pupils to do their homework on time and be very disciplined and also respect their teachers. Touching on the teachers the DCE said we appreciate the effort they have been putting up to raise the standard of education and we will count on them to do more to help these children. The children he said are their responsibility and their future lies in their hands.