GES embraces changes

The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, has noted that the educational sector was an area where change could be facilitated easily since children grasp what they where taught very quickly in their formative years.

He expressed the observation at the opening of a five-day workshop on Water Sanitation and Hygiene Education aimed at facilitating changes in attitude and behaviour of children and young adults in schools.

The project dubbed: “Human Value- Based Water Sanitation and Hygiene Education (HVBWSHE)” seeks to promote better understanding of the environment in the context of water, sanitation and hygiene.

It is also a component of the Water for African Cities Phase II programme.

The workshop would train teachers who would in turn train classroom teachers, tutors of training colleges
and non-formal educators in its implementation.

Mr. Bannerman-Mensah expressed concerns about the way people took water for granted and reminded the public that water was essential to life and sanitation was a dignity.

He said the Service fully embraced the HVBWSHE concept which was already being implemented in 13 African countries even though the current curricula had made efforts to teach pupils about the importance of water.

The project, which is being implemented in partnership with collaborators including the UN-Habitat, would link schools and colleges of education to their respective communities to enable such communities' to benefit from the programme.

Mrs. Sarah Agyemang Duah, Project Director, said the programme would address challenges of water and sanitation in the cities as well as nurture values such as honesty, integrity, tolerance particularly in children during their formative years.

She said such values in children would result in caring and responsible adults in future.

Source: GNA