Veep cuts the sod for school project in Brakwa

Brakwa (C/R), Feb. 7, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Wednesday cut the sod for the commencement of work on the four-billion-cedi Brakwa Senior Secondary and Technical School project, in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District of the Central Region. The large number of people including the Member of Parliament, Mr Paul Appiah Ofori and District Chief Executive, Mr Adjei Domson, cheered the Vice President as he danced to gospel music to perform the ceremony. Vice President Mahama said the project was in line with the vision of the ruling New Patriotic Party's Positive Change Chapter Two to prioritise human resource development.

He said five basic schools in the District had been listed to benefit from the School Feeding Programme.

Vice President Mahama said three of the schools were currently providing free lunch to about 1,200 pupils everyday.

He said two remaining schools would benefit from the programme by the middle of the year, adding: "Efforts are also being made to add cluster of schools at Amoada to the list.

"In respect of the Capitation Grant, the District was allocated a total grant of 1.7 billion cedis in the 2004/2005 academic year to make public education free and accessible to every child in the District." Vice President Mahama expressed happiness that basic school enrolment in the District had increased to 37 per cent as a result of the grant.

He said 237 teaching assistants had been employed under the Youth Employment Programme to fill vacancies created by inadequate teaching staff in the District.

Vice President Mahama said a number of projects including educational and sanitary facilities had been approved for the District. He, however, expressed dissatisfaction that out of the 178 candidates, who wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination in the five public schools at Brakwa only 36 candidates had between aggregates six and 30.

"In this regard I will urge Nananom (chiefs) to educate their people about the importance of sending their children to school and ensuring that they remain in school to study hard to pass their examinations."

Vice President Mahama also asked the traditional authorities to use the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism to resolve all chieftaincy disputes to pave the way for accelerated development in their communities.

Mr Ofori lauded the interest of the Vice President to push development projects to the area, which had led to the tarring of Brakwa and Asikuma township roads, while the Odoben-Brakwa road had been awarded on contract.

He said Israeli investo rs had shown the desire to start Jatropha plantations at Brakwa for the production of diesel fuel and appealed to the chiefs to release lands for the project. 06 Feb. 07