FREE UNIFORMS WON'T BE A NINE-DAYS WONDER — DCE ASSURES PARENTS (PAGE 42, OCT 21, 2010)

THE District Chief Executive (DCE) for Sekyere Afram Plains in the Ashanti Region, Mr Jacob Kofi Dankwah, has stated that the distribution of free exercise books and school uniforms to pupils of basic schools in the country has become a permanent feature of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.
“It’s not going to be a nine-days’ wonder as some people believed. We have put in place effective measures to make this a permanent feature,” he said.
Speaking at a ceremony to distribute 2,000 school uniforms and a number of exercise books to schools in 18 communities in the Afram Plains area of the district, Mr Dankwah said the government considered education as the bedrock of national development.
“Therefore, every effort will be made to provide the necessary infrastructure and other interventions to schools, especially in the deprived areas to boost education,” he said.
The beneficiary communities included Abura, Seneso, Yakubu, Sabreso, Apapasu-Saabuom, Sunsua, Drobonso, Asisiwa, Anyinofi and Mamprusi.
The rest were Dawia, Mempekasa, Akoma, Dagomba, Domase, Asuboasu, Sabrewa and Saaboum.
Mr Dankwah gave the assurance that the government would not renege on its promises to the people in the country, stressing that the education sector was high on the agenda of the government.
He called on other stakeholders in education to complement the government’s efforts at bringing education to the accepted level.
The DCE urged teachers to maximum their output to help pupils realise their full potentials.
He disclosed that preparations were far advanced for the construction of a police station and a public place of convenience at Drobonso.
The Kumawu-Drobonso road, which in a deplorable condition, would also be rehabilitated.
The District Director of Education, Mrs Agnes Apenyo, appealed to parents to give the necessary support to their children to enable them to advance in their education career.
She said gone were the days where children were used as farm hands and other trading activities at the expense of education, stressing that “No matter what one wants to be in future, education must come first”.
Mrs Apenyo entreated parents to pay regular visits to their children in school and also show more interest in Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) activities.
The Headmaster of Drobonso District Assembly Junior High School (JHS), Mr David Kwabena Appau, disclosed that only four out of the 42 candidates who sat for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination passed.
He appealed to the district assembly to provide the school with a public place of convenience, as well as a security person since some unscrupulous people in the town defecated at the school in the night.