PARENTS CANT FAIL TO SEND WARDS TO SCHOOL (NOV 3, PAGE 16)

The Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, has said there is no justification for any parent not to send his/her child to school, in view of the favourable policies initiated to reduce the burden on parents as far as the payment of school fees and the provision of school uniforms to pupils are concerned.
According to him, the Government had increased the quantum of the Capitation Grant by 50 per cent and the programme to provide free uniforms to 1.6 million pupils across the country would be implemented by the end of the first term of the 2009/10 academic year, in addition to the provision of 10 exercise books per child in basic schools.
He also said the Government was committed to continuing the school feeding programme, and would improve and expand coverage to more schools.
“ With these policies, no parent had the excuse for not sending their children to school because of his/ her inability to pay fees or provide school uniforms or books,” he declared.
Mr Amenowode was addressing a grand durbar to climax the 10th anniversary of the institution of the Akwantutenten festival of the chiefs and people of the Worawora Traditional Area in the non-functioning Biakoye District last weekend.
He announced that the Government was considering reviving the Worawora Nurses Training School into a midwifery school in collaboration with the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council (VRCC), Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Ghana Health Service.
The regional minister called for the total co-operation and support of the chiefs and people of Worawora.
In an address, the Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Alexander Asum-Ahensah, said such festivals afforded the indigenes the opportunity to reconnect lost bonds which would otherwise not have been possible to recapture.
He said festivals were also networking platforms that enabled the people to discuss vital development issues.
Mr Asum –Ahensah underscored the need for the nation to reposition itself to take advantage of global tourism by using remarkable tools such as festivals and other significant customary practices to showcase the country’s rich values to the outside world.
He impressed on chiefs and elders to revive the interest of the youth in culture and to inculcate in them respect for elders and appreciation of traditional values which used to be the indicators of maturity.
In his welcoming address, the Woraworahene, Daasebre Asare Baah III, said a lot of investment opportunities had been identified in the area in respect of tourism development, rice milling, nursing training school, private hostel and accommodation for hospital and nursing training college, petrol and gas filling station, development of soccer academy and sports stadium, cold store facilities, and a Frequency Modulated(FM)station.
Others are the development of hotels and lakeside resorts at Kogokrom, commercial fresh water fishing along the Volta Lake, cash crop farming along the lake on the vast Worawora lands.