Never again!

Two months into the re-opening of second cycle institutions in Ghana, schools in the three northern regions are still closed. This is as a result of the delay by government to release their allocation of the School Feeding Grant.

Though the government has just made part payment of the grant, to allow some of the schools to re-open from today, The Chronicle would like to express its indignation and disgust, at the seemingly apathetic attitude of the authorities concerned, to our brothers and sisters in the North.

The Northern regions lag behind, in terms of infrastructural development, and should be the last area to receive such treatment.

From the time of colonial rule by the British, the northern territories were marginalized educationally and economically. On attainment of independence, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah embarked on a massive programme, of building hundreds of schools, and other infrastructure, especially favouring the North, in order to redress the colonial
imbalance of regional development.
With assistance from religious institutions, the North also witnessed an enormous dose of socio-economic infrastructure. However, despite all these developments, the region is still very low on the country's poverty ladder.

The Chronicle thinks the only solution to the problem is education, therefore nothing should be done to destroy it. Whoever is withholding the grant for schools in the area, should release them immediately, in the interest of the academic work of the students.

It is unfair for these schools to remain closed, when their counterparts in the south, have already started academic work. At the end of the day, they are all going to write the same West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) examination.

In this election year, most political parties have noted the development of human resources, as a thematic area for consideration, when they come to power. We must therefore not stay aloof, as the same youth we intend to develop, are having their future jeopardised.

Stakeholders in education should be up in arms, to fight against the bureaucracy, which is inherent in the provision of certain essential services, like education.
Those behind the release of the grant should never allow this delay to occur again.

Source: Ghanaian Chronicle