Regional News of Saturday, 16 August 2014

Source: GNA

CofA urges Ghanaians to invest in children education

The College for Ama (CofA) Foundation, a charity organisation, on Thursday urged Ghanaians to invest in the education of their children in order to secure their bright future.

Mrs Helen Lydia Bedwei, CofA Co-Founder and Honorary Treasurer, said children were treasures and legacies; hence parents and guardians must ensure their proper training and development.

She said acquiring property was good; however, educating children was the best investment, which would guarantee a better job placement for the children and serve as insurance for parents in their old age.

Mrs Bedwei made the appeal in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the CofA Seventh Summer Training Camp for Rural Girls, during which 40 basic school girls from the Greater Accra, Volta and Eastern regions were empowered for three weeks in Accra.

This year’s camp, held from July 25 to August 15 at the University of Ghana, was on the theme: “Investing in Rural Girl Education to Break the Cycle of Poverty and Under-achievement among Girls in Rural Areas”.

She said the camp had brought a lot of transformation into the lives of the girls, declaring that they arrived at the camp timid, self-conscious, lacking confidence but left with hope and a can-do spirit.

She said CofA’s annual organisation of the camp was their widow’s mite towards providing a greater future for the nation’s children.

She described this year’s attendance at the camp as very impressive and encouraging.

Mrs Bedwei, who is also an entrepreneur, said one need not be very rich before one could give his or her child education, adding; "the child cannot wait".

She appealed to civil society organizations (CSOs) and philanthropists to intensify their efforts of promoting child education, especially that of the girl child.

Mrs Bedwei said one does not need to set up a CSO before one could take care of children, adding that “our children should be better than us”.

She appealed to parents and guardians of disabled children not to give up on them, saying "with God, there is hope for their future".