Koforidua, April 15, GNA - Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister, on Wednesday reiterated the commitment of government to address factors that threaten progress in education delivery to pave way for the creation of a better Ghana through education. "These include gender disparities, geographical differentiations, school drop out, poor transition from primary to Junior High School, poor teacher development and poor infrastructure".

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo was addressing the opening ceremony of the Regional Education Sector Annual Review meeting in Koforidua. He said the government was optimistic that building the capacity of the human resource of the nation was the best strategy for achieving the middle income status, which is the expectation of all Ghanaians. Mr Ofosu- Ampofo therefore urged the participants who included District and Municipal Directors of Education to focus their discussions on those critical areas.

He said the outcome of the review meeting would enable government and major stakeholders in the education sector to determine the extent to which the objectives of Education Strategic Plan (ESP) and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) had been achieved. Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), in a speech read on his behalf said this year's review was a departure from the previous years. He said the major focus this year was to have a critical look at the Draft ESP, which covers the period 2010-2020. "The draft takes cognizance of the Education Acts, Policies and review reports, papers of national, Regional and District importance. Mr Bannerman-Mensah said educational delivery over the past six years had been guided by the 2003-2015 ESP, which outlined educational policies, objectives, expected outcomes and various strategies aimed at achieving educational goals in the country. He said the ESP was underpinned by 10 broad policy goals, which included increase access, improve quality, extension and improvement in Technical Education Training, improve planning and management, expansion of science and technology education and provision of equal opportunities for girls among others. 16 April 09