Kufuor calls for discipline and moral probity for quality education

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday said the discipline and moral probity that characterised schools in the past should be the core in the country's pursuit for a quality all-round education.

He said questions are being asked about the ability of the Junior Secondary School/ Senior Secondary School (JSS/SSS) system and its ability to provide quality all-round education required to meet the changing needs and demands of the global village.

He stressed that the system could not be all-round without the integral virtue of discipline and moral probity that used to characterise great schools of old.

President Kufuor said the boarding school environment taught young people how to live together in harmony, respect, tolerate and learn from each other.

This experience was the rudiments of good governance and the beginnings of an orderly society in a complex world, President Kufuor said at the 125th anniversary speech and prize-giving day of Mfantsipim School at Cape Coast.

According to the President, Mfantsipim as a pioneering boarding school produced some of the best political, public service and social leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the country.

"Boarding schools are great unifying agents that have helped to build the nation and still have a role to play in nation building. It is a great pity that a combination of intolerant ideology and the lack of money have led to the subversion of this great idea of the boarding system in our secondary schools," he added.

The Mfantsipim School, established by the Methodist Church on April 3,1876 under the name Wesleyan High School had its name later changed to Mfantsipim in 1905.

President Kufuor commended the founding fathers of Mfantsipim and said it had served as a good example of the role played by the churches in the country's education.

For years the mission schools set the standard both in academic and morals and Mfantsipim was the obvious leader in the schools that combined academic excellence with moral integrity, the President said and added: "Today, Mfantsipim has a presence in all aspects of Ghanaian life and still setting the pace and keeping alive the ideals of the founders which was success and prosperity in humility."

Professor Akwasi Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education said the government was committed to improving the educational system and to motivate teachers to perform their onerous duties better.

As a demonstration of this commitment, he said, the government had embarked upon the construction, expansion and rehabilitation of second-cycle educational institutions in the country.

The Minister of Education said under the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), the government was undertaking projects in 80 senior secondary schools (SSS) eight from each region at a cost of 6.2 billion cedis.

About 20 billion cedis had been made available to complete constructional works on 20 Vocational and Technical Education Centres (VOTEC), 5.5 billion cedis of the amount had already been paid to the contractors involved.

The government, Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi said, had allocated 173 billion cedis for various projects in tertiary educational institutions, out of this amount 10 billion cedis had already been disbursed to the country's universities for the completion of some on-going projects began many years ago.

In addition, the government has made provision for the delivery of 9,000 bicycles, 500 motorcycles, 5,000 sets of cooking utensils, 5,000 radio cassette recorders for distribution to teachers in deprived and difficult areas.

Mr Crosbi K. Ashun, Headmaster of the school, called on parents, guardians and society to inculcate in children the right attitudes and behaviours that would help educators of the future leaders of the country to do their work.

He called for a review of the process of admission of students to the SSS to offer equal chance to every Ghanaian child to enter any school of his or her choice.

Mr Ashun advocated for the use of raw scores of the candidates in the subjects that would be used to determine those who should be selected as it prevailed during the Common Entrance era.

He stressed the need for the Ghana Education Service (GES) to organise seminars for parents of JSS students while counselling sessions were conducted for parents and students in basic schools to enable them make informed choices as far as subjects and careers were considered.

President Kufuor earlier laid the foundation stone for a one billion cedis library and Information Technology (IT) Centre for the school being undertaken by the Mfantsipim Old Students Association (MOBA).