Government urged to assist private schools

Winneba (C/R) Aug. 1, GNA - The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Education, (UEW) Winneba, Professor Jonas Akpanglo Nartey has appealed to the Government to continue to assist private schools to enable them to play meaningful role in the delivery of quality education in the country.

He said the establishment of private schools in the country had helped to reduce the pressure on the Government to open more public schools to meet the growing demand of children of school-going age. Professor Akpanglo Nartey made the appeal at the maiden Speech and Prize-Giving Day of the Uncle Rich Preparatory School, observed under the theme: "Private Education, its Challenges and Impact" at Winneba on Saturday.

The Pro-VC cited Kasoa, a fast growing urban town in the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District, where there were only five public schools but 56 private schools, each with large enrolment as an example. Most children of school-going age at Kasoa would not have had school, had it not been the private schools, he pointed out, saying that the situation at Kasoa would not be different from that of many towns and villages throughout the country, he said. The Acting District Director of Education for Awutu-Effutu-Senya, Mrs Emma Quarcoo urged parents to give adequate food to their children before they went to school.

She said reports reaching her indicated that some school children were not properly fed before going to school.

Mrs Quarcoo called on proprietors and head teachers to organise capacity building workshops for their teachers and promised that the Ghana Education Service (GES) would help with the organisation of such workshops.

The Proprietor of the School Mr William K. Richardson said the school started in 1996 with only nine children but now had a population of 600.

He said the school presented its first batch of 16 students for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in the 2003 - 2004 academic year out of which nine obtained aggregate seven and the rest got between aggregate eight and 14. Mr Richardson said most of the students had gained admission in Mfantsepim, Saint Augustine's and Holy Child Secondary Schools in Cape Coast.

He appealed to nongovernmental organisation, philanthropist and the Government to assist the school to establish a Computer Laboratory for the teaching of Information Communication Technology (ICT). Book prizes were given to deserving students, who excelled in their various academic works.