Catholic Education week celebration launched

Stakeholders in education have been encouraged to review their financial support and other obligations towards the sector to enable it effectively execute its mandate.

“Stakeholders have a significant role to play in financing pre-tertiary education in the country considering the fact education was the key to the development of a nation and her human resource.”

Madam Araba Ahima Bentum, the General Manager of Catholic Schools in Ghana, said this in a speech read for her at the Sekondi-Takoradi Catholic Diocesan Launch of the Catholic Education week celebration at the Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Cathedral in Takoradi.

The week-long celebration is on the theme: “Catholic Education:Role of stakeholders in financing education at the pre-tertiary level.”

Madam Bentum noted that pre-tertiary education in Ghana was considered a very important part of the education system since it was the foundation upon which the talents of the nation’s youth was built.

In that regard, she said the youth should be given the very best of resources, such as infrastructure, text books, exercise books as well as good tuition by their facilitators.

The General Manager pointed out that it was the responsibility of the government and the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the requisite resources were provided without any interruption for the benefit of the citizenry.

Touching on the theme, she said, “financing education should be the interest of every citizen in the country and not only the government, the government as a body is supposed to provide free pre-tertiary education to its citizenry as enshrined in the constitution “.

Madam Bentum said aside from the provision, the government needed to ensure that the entire citizenry took advantage of the provision and attached sanctions to any individual, who willfully breached the law to serve as a deterrent to the rest of the people.

She said it was also the responsibility of the government in partnership with stakeholders to put up structures needed to enhance teaching and learning, adding “these would include recruiting highly qualified and experienced teachers and to ensure that qualified individuals are employed “.

Madam Bentum said parents on the other hand needed to understand that they equally had responsibilities for their wards education and that the task towards their wards did not end with taking their children to school, but also ensuring that their children do all assignments given to them.

She said they also had the responsibility of providing the needs for their wards to support the government efforts and made sure their wards were regular and punctual at school as well as collaborate with teachers to train the learners in the way they would want to see them in future.

The General Manager called on the church to continue to maintain the structures of the schools and establish education funds in all Dioceses to address the challenges confronting the schools.

“Scholarships schemes could also be established to support needy students”, she added.

The catholic church in the Western and Western North Regions have a total of 466 basic schools made up of 187 kindergartens , 191 primary schools and 88 Junior high schools.

There are also 12 second cycle and tertiary schools, which comprise six SHS, three technical and Vocational schools, two special schools and one College of Education.

The week-long celebration has activities such as clean up exercises, career guidance and career day, Health talk, Games, drama, durbar and Thanksgiving mass.

Read full article