The rich must support poor children to access education – MP

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa East, Mr Ekow Okyere Panyin, has appealed to well-to-do Ghanaians to help children from poor homes to acquire education or vocational skills to make them self-sufficient. He said if the rich denied the poor children access to education, these children would grow up with no skills to make them earn a living and could become hardened criminals to disturb their peace. Mr Panyin gave the advice at a ceremony at Gomoa Afranse where 6,299 school uniforms donated by the government were presented to schools for distribution, free of charge to the children. “We must all help to make every Ghanaian child access at least basic education”, the Mp stressed. He commended the government for putting in place interventions to make every child to have access to education and appealed to parents to support the efforts by ensuring that their children were enrolled in schools. The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa East, Mr Isaac Kingsley Ahunu-Armah, said the free uniforms were part of the fulfilment of President John Evans Atta Mills promise to invest in the human resource of the nation. He said to complement the government’s efforts, Gomoa East District Assembly has ordered school uniforms to be supplied to children of unit schools. The DCE said the uniforms would be ready before the celebration of the 54th Independence Anniversary on March 6. Mr Ahunu-Armah expressed gratitude to the government for providing the district with eight educational infrastructure funded by the GETFund. He cautioned head-teachers to ensure that the uniforms were distributed strictly according to the guidelines of the Ghana Education Service. Mr Francis Obeng Ampadu, outgoing District Director of Education, commended President Mills for honouring his promise to Ghanaians. He was also grateful to the assembly for funding the mock examination for the final year students of the Junior High Schools in the district last year. The outgoing education director said the government spent 31 per cent of the national revenue on education and appealed to teachers, parents and pupils to help to make the investment worthwhile. He was happy that the district moved from 43 per cent to 51 per cent in 2010 in upgrading and urged teachers and pupils to work hard to achieve 60 per cent in the 2011 assessment. Madam Abena Ackom and Fedelia Baffoe who spoke on behalf of the parents, were full of praise for the President for the uniform and other interventions to ensure that children access quality education.