Parents, teachers urged to give special attention to pupils

January 18, 2011 Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), Jan. 18, GNA - The Rev Herbert Anim Oppong, Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has appealed to teachers and parents to give special attention to the needs of basic school pupils so they would gain the confidence to learn.

This way, he said, basic school pupils could be adequately guided "to employ discipline in their quest to develop their cognitive, affective and psycho-motor acumen for their own benefit and that of the nation".

Rev. Oppong made the appeal when he inaugurated a block of three classrooms, an office, a store and a computer laboratory jointly constructed for Dormaa-Ahenkro Presbyterian Junior High School (JHS) by Ernst Peyer Memorial Foundation of Switzerland and the Church at Dormaa-Ahenkro.

He said the home, the school and society equally shared the task in bringing up children into responsible adulthood.

Rev. Dr. Kofi Effah Ababio, Brong-Ahafo Presbytery Chairman, urged school children to let the fear of God permeate their lives and education.

The Dormaa District Presbyterian Pastor and local Manager for Presbyterian Schools, Rev. Hayford Dwamena Asirifi, said Ernst Peyer Foundation provided 70 percent of the project's total cost whilst the church bore the remaining 30 percent.

He said the execution of the project went without the provision of furniture but the Dormaa Municipal Assembly had expressed its readiness to provide GHC 7,885.

Rev. Asirifi also said the Municipal Education Directorate had expressed its wish to use the school's computer laboratory as a common centre for basic schools in and around Dormaa-Ahenkro.

Mrs. Charlotte Asirifi, headmistress said the school would help minimize pressure on the only JHS in the area for pupils from two Presbyterian Primary Schools.

Madam Charity Afari-Mintah, Dormaa Municipal Girl-Child Education Co-ordinator, has appealed to parents and communities in Dormaa to desist from exposing children to beliefs and practices that could destroy their future.

She emphasized the need for stakeholders in child welfare to set targets for the younger generation and assist them to achieve their objectives without stress.

The co-ordinator made the appeal when she presented a paper on "Childhood and Child Development" at a one-day capacity building workshop for selected Community Child Protection Committee members, security agencies and transport unions at Dormaa-Ahenkro.

The workshop was organised by Dormaa Municipal Assembly as part of the National programme being implemented by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to eliminate worst forms of child labour on cocoa farms.

Topics discussed comprised "Child-hood and Child Development", "Basic Concepts of Worst Forms of Child Labour", "Differences between Child Work and Child Labour" and "How to identify and Arrest Child Traffickers".

Madam Afari-Mintah noted that the Ministry's efforts could be given tremendous boost if communities in the municipality would agree to go back to the concept of communal ownership of children where the younger ones were collectively owned and moulded to become responsible adults.

She appealed to adults to lead exemplary lives for the young to emulate while they made every effort to enrol their children of school-going age in school.

The Municipal Social Welfare officer, Mr. Owusu Sekyere, appealed to cocoa farmers to target the child's best interest in all spheres of life.

The Municipal Labour Officer, Mr Salmanu Salifu, expressed the hope that cocoa farmers and their care-takers would not engage minors on their farms.

GNA