Minister urges MMDCEs to promote education
The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has asked Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCE’s) in the country to liaise with their directors of education and other stakeholders to put in place the right measures to promote educational development in their areas.
He explained that for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's vision of transforming the nation through education to be attained, there was the need for all stakeholders to unite and work as a team by taking a keen interest in the development of education in their areas.
Dr Adutwum made the call when he met some selected MMDCE’s from municipalities, metropolitan and districts with low school enrolment in the country in Accra recently.
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The meeting, which was upon the request of the minister, was aimed at discussing the low enrolment and finding a lasting solution to them.
It was also used to share ideas on issues relating to education development, which should be looked at critically by all stakeholders in the education sector.
Commitment of government
The minister assured the MMDCEs that the government was poised to do everything possible to ensure that every child in the country irrespective of location, religion, ethnicity, political inclination and social standing got the best education in the country.
"With all the good education policies we are implementing, its impact is being felt in various ways since a large number of the youth benefitting from the initiatives in the country has been very useful to various facets of the nation's economy," Dr Adutwum said.
Dr Adutwum, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) for Bosomtwe, mentioned, for instance, that after the attainment of knowledge in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills by the youth, they could be employed in the various industries as the critical personnel towards the development of the country.
He mentioned some of the benefits to be derived from the various education innovations as being much more productive, supporting the manpower needs of the nation's industrialisation drive, reducing crime rate, among other benefits.
Topmost priority
The Director in-charge of General Administration at the ministry, Ms Catherine Appiah Pinkrah, urged the MMDCE’s to consider working towards making education a topmost priority in the areas of their operations since it was a very good tool for fighting poverty.
She urged the MMDCE’s to consider liaising with the education directors to organise stakeholder meetings to discuss education development in their respective areas since, without much effort, it would be difficult getting the needed support to promote educational development in the areas.
Background
The Ministry of Education has identified 40 MMDCE’s in the country with low enrolment for a couple of years.
The ministry has, therefore, put in place measures to ensure that the situation is reversed to have all children of school-going age in the affected areas go back to the classroom to acquire the right skills and training for their lives.