GET INVOLVED IN CHILDREN'S EDUCATION (PAGE 11)

The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, has observed that quality education at the basic level could only be achieved when communities get involve in the education process of their children.
Communities, he said, must, therefore, be interested in what went into the teaching and learning and offer advice as to how pupils achievement should be improved.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah made the observation in an address read on his behalf by the Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Education, Rev. Samuel A. Amankwa, at the 25th (silver jubilee) celebration of the establishment of the Holy Spirit Basic School at Fiapre in the Sunyani West District on the theme, “25 years of Holistic Quality Basic Education (Under the Guidance of The Holy Spirit)”.
The Director-General of the GES also noted that the success of the new educational reform depended on a committed teacher and therefore when we talk of quality education delivery the role of the teacher was paramount.
He said for teachers to be effective, they must be well-trained, motivated, have a decent work environment, good pay and an attractive career path and added that this summed up the issues that challenged the output of quality delivery in schools.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah, however, gave the assurance that the government would do all in its power to see to it that the children of this country got access to basic education.
He praised private sector participation in the education delivery in the country and said the Holy Spirit school, which was one of such schools in the country, was worthy of emulation.
Mr Bannerman-Mensah commended the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and the board of directors of the school who over the past 25 years had helped to raise the image of the school through the provision of infrastructure and ICT facilities, motivation of teachers and the award of prizes to both pupils and teachers.
He also congratulated the headmistress, staff, students and the entire community on the good work done and encouraged the pupils to learn hard to become future leaders of the country.
Sister (Sr) Cecilia Boateng, the headmistress of the school, said the school, which started with 25 children on May 28, 1984, had risen to 512 comprising 237 boys and 275 girls by the end of this academic year, adding that the school had also achieved the aims for which was established to offer a holistic, quality education towards the development of children in academic, social and moral formation.
She said the school had gained fame its academic laurels over the years and in each year candidates who were presented to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE) came out with 100 per cent passes with most of them scoring aggregate six, saying the school had also won the Presidential Awards for the best student in the BECE on at least, two occasions for the region.
Sister Boateng said the school did not have adequate classrooms and could not admit more pupils. She, therefore, appealed for assistance from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to put up more classrooms, and also the Sunyani Municipal and Sunyani West district assemblies to help tar the access road leading to the school.
She expressed the school’s appreciation to all who had contributed in diverse ways to bring the school up to where it was today, especially the Fiapre Traditional Council, for donating the land on which the school is situated, the late and first Catholic Bishop of Sunyani, Most Rev. James Kwadwo Owusu, the Missionary Sisters, Servants of the Holy Spirit, among others, for starting the school to help boost the educational quest in the young people of the area.