Political leaders urged not to politicize education

Cape Coast, Nov.11, GNA - An Information Technology (IT) consultant on Saturday expressed concern about the way the nation’s education system was being manipulated by political leaders thereby making it very difficult to effectively manage the sector.     Mr Robert Sackeyfio, IT Infrastructure Solution Consultant at IPMC, said politician should not compromise the standards and quality of education in their bid to win political power.     He said they should rather come out with pragmatic programmes and policies that would make the educational sector vibrant and sustainable since education was the bedrock of any nation’s development.     Mr Sackeyfio said this when he chaired the 136th speech and prize-giving day of Mfantsipim School at Cape Coast under the theme:  “Mfantsipim’s Faithful Eight: An Agenda for Ghana’s Development”.     The ceremony also saw the various year groups such as the 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002 donating cash, books and science equipment to the school as part of their contribution towards the celebration.     Mr Sackeyfio, who is an old boy of the school, said education played an important role in the socio-economic development of  any nation  and that it was imperative for the nation’s leaders to give it the necessary assistance and attention to enable the average Ghanaian to have access to education.      He urged parents not to shirk their responsibility towards their children’s education, adding that it was not enough to send their children to school but to encourage them to take their studies seriously because education is the only legacy they could leave their wards.       Mr Kojo Siaw Ofori-Atta, a Power Engineer, who was the guest speaker, paid glowing tribute to the founding fathers and staff of the school for maintaining the academic standards of the school and urged the authorities to continue to attract qualified and committed teachers to the school.       He called on the students to take advantage of the current Information and Communication Technology system to aspire to the highest level, stressing that in the past such facilities were not available but they managed to excel.       Mr Ofori-Atta urged the students to transform themselves from  mediocrity to the success side of life and endeavour to drive themselves towards their goals, adding that  there was no short cut to success but hard work and determination.      Mr Koame Mieza Edjah, Headmaster of the school, said the academic life of the school had seen tremendous  improvement  over the years and that in the 2012 West African Senior School Certificate  Examination, 99.8 percent of the students  had quality passes  with majority  gaining  admission  into the various universities.      He commended the Parent Teacher Association for the financial support given to newly recruited teachers as well as the  sponsorship for an end of year party for staff and a retreat to Keta to take stock of activities carried out during the past year.       Mr Edjah commended the year groups who were constructing a power generation plant  from Bio-gas to serve the school’s energy needs, completion of the campus clinic, renovation of two staff bungalows, providing a public address system as well as books for the school library.     He said notwithstanding the modest feats, they were still burdened with the increasing number of students being placed  in their school which had necessitated the expansion  of resident  facilities  such as dormitories,  assembly hall,  toilets  and water storage systems.     GNA ... Read Full Story