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Lawyer damns parents for failure to invest in their ward's
education
Sokode, July 16, Ghanadot/GNA- Mr Michael Zewu Glover, a
Legal Practitioner based at Sogakope on Saturday abhorred
the attitude of some parents who acquire properties but
refuse to invest in their wards education due to lack of
funds.
He said such parents had the option to trade off some of
such properties to pay for their children's education or
have them dissipated by uninformed, unexposed and uneducated
children after their death.
Mr Glover was addressing the 10th Anniversary Durbar of the
Sokode Secondary Technical School (SOSTECH) at Sokode, a
community school for five cluster of towns near Ho.
He also implored the educated in the communities to actively
participate in school projects to avoid the collapse of such
institutions.
education is an illiterate graduate," Mr Glover
stated.
Mr Glover, who is a member of the Volta Foundation, a
development advocacy group, hinted that as part of efforts
to increase economic activity in the Volta Region a bicycle
assembly plant, to be cited in the Sokode Community was in
the offing.
The occasion was also used to hold the first speech and
prize-giving day of the school, which had the theme
"Education-The Key to Community Development and Progress".
The school was founded by local chiefs and opinion leaders
of the Sokode Community in February 1996 with 28 students
made up of 17 males and 11 females.
The school was absorbed into the public system in 2001, is a
distressed school.
Mr Stephen Addey, headmaster of the school said the school
is still housed in the old Junior Secondary School (JSS)
block and has no library, staff common room, science
laboratory, staff accommodation and means of transport.
He said the progressive increase in enrolment, which reached
265 in 2005, has dwindled to 180 as a result of the
computerized admission system into senior secondary schools.
"Students who are sent to the school under the computerized
system either withdraw after a year or do not report all.
This poses a threat to the development of the school," the
Headmaster stated.
Mr Addey said despite the challenges the school was facing
it still performed well at the SSCE/WASSCE by attaining 87
percent pass in 2006.
He appealed to government to help complete an eight-unit
two-storey classroom block, started by the community through
communal labour and levies.
Mr Billy Sunnu, Chairman of the Board of Governors hinted
that the Board had applied to government to select and
convert the school into a pure technical institute to
replace the Ho Technical School, which is now Ho
Polytechnic.
He paid tribute to the teachers, community leaders,
individuals, the Ho Municipal Assembly, some
Non-Governmental Organizations, the PTA and individuals for
their perseverance to see the school's dream grow into
fruition.
Captain George Nfodwo (rtd), MP for Ho-Central deplored the
poor attendance of the school by community members and that
they must be seen as the bastion of support for the school.
He said the community member's interest in the school's
projects must rise above all other petty squabbling.
Miss Rosemond Keteku, Ho Municipal Director of Education
urged parents and teachers to deal with disciplinary
problems promptly and precisely.
She said the policy development programmes of the Ghana
Education Service (GES) were only planned for schools five
years after absorption into the public system and that
SOSTECH would begin to have its share of infrastructure
soon.
Mrs Dorothy Glover, Director Secondary Division of the GES
who represented the Minister of Education Science and Sports
said all efforts were being made to expose all students in
Senior Secondary Schools to Information Communication
Technology (ICT).
Sixty-Seven book prizes were presented to the best students
in the various subjects as well as certificates of
appreciation to teachers, ancillary staff, community and
Board Members, including, Mr SSF Lawson Doe, first
Headmaster of the school.
GNA
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