Abamkrom (E/R), Feb. 12, GNA - About 300 people are expected to be employed in the West Akyem Municipality as part of a National Afforestation Programme.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Seth Otchere, says in all about 150 hectares of land would be re-afforested in the Municipality and two persons would be needed on each hectare.

Speaking at the launch of the Cocoa Farmers Association at Abamkrom, Mr Otchere said the programme would take off with few workers. He appealed to land owners to release land for the project and gave the assurance that the economic trees to be planted on their land would ultimately belong to them.

He said teachers' quarters would be built at Abamkrom for the Methodist Primary School.

Mr Otchere said the quarters would be the start of a programme by the assembly to construct teachers' quarters for rural schools where teachers found it difficult to obtain decent accommodation.

The lack of accommodation in those areas, he said, could be partly attributed to the poor performance of students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination in the Municipality.

He said teachers who had stayed long at a particular school and had performed abysmally would be transferred to other areas. Mr Joseph Amakwanor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Upper West Akyem, also advised parents to refrain from engaging their children on farming activities at the expense of their education.

He expressed worry about the practice where some parents send their wards to the farm very early in the morning before going to school and said such tendencies make the children tired and therefore unable to concentrate on their studies in the classroom. 12 Feb. 10