Facilities in 30 secondary schools to up graded

Kumasi, Aug 8, GNA - Facilities in 30 secondary schools will be improved soon under the first phase of the government's special scheme to up grade 110 secondary schools into first-class schools. Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, said funds and other inputs had been provided for expansion and improvement of facilities.

This was contained in an address read for him by the Deputy Minister of Education, Mr Joe Donkor, at the opening of the eighth quadrennial national delegates conference of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the TUC in Kumasi, on Thursday. The four-day conference attended by 250 delegates is under the theme, "Education: Pivot of Individual Capacity Building and National Development".

Mr Baah-Wiredu who did not give the names of the 30 schools and the amount to be spent said the 25 schools would be covered in the second phase.

He said the scheme and the President's Initiative on Distance Education, formed part of the government's programme to make quality education accessible to all.

The Minister said the intention to increase university user fees is not to increase the burden of parents but "rather it stems from the view that they do not want to compromise on quality, regarding university education".

Mr Yaw Barimah, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, said the crusade to attract foreign investors would not be successful without industrial harmony.

He said this was the reason why the government is committed to ensuring smooth and cordial labour relations and was providing various formal and informal schemes to ensure skilled manpower development.

Mr Barimah said, "the government recognises that industrial peace and harmony and skilled quality manpower resources serve as a catalyst to attracting foreign investors into the country and will therefore explore all avenues to attain such a goal".

The Minister advised unionised workers to reciprocate the government's gesture by maintaining industrial peace and using dialogue and consultation in addressing grievances instead of strike actions. Mr Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of the TUC, said the TUC was not opposed to the National Health Insurance Scheme but had reservations on the approach adopted by government in its introduction. "We believe that already certain schemes like the community health schemes which are on the ground should rather have been promoted by the government to function properly rather than the broad-based scheme introduced".

"The contemplation of using SSNIT funds to fund the national health insurance scheme too is unacceptable to us since SSNIT fund was not part of the consolidated fund," Mr Adu-Amankwah said.

Mr Dan Ayim Antwi, General Secretary of TEWU, appealed to the five workers' groups, which had formed the Ghana Federation of Labour, to re-consider their move and join hands with the TUC in the supreme interest of trade union unity and solidarity.

Mr Michael Nyame, National Chairman of the TEWU, appealed to the government to act swiftly on the re-introduction of the End of Service Benefit (ESB) for workers.

Mr Nyame said since "Ministers and Parliamentarians all enjoy packages paid to them at the end of their tenure in office it will be unfair not to extend similar facilities to the ordinary worker".