Ho, March 13, GNA - The Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) is to sanction school heads who refuse to distribute government's free exercise books to pupils. Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister stated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) following rumours that pupils in the Ho Municipality had not received the free exercise books. He said it was surprising that several months after government provided the exercise books for distribution to pupils in the region, some pupils had not received the books and said school heads found culpable would be sanctioned.

Mr Amenowode said the policy was intended to ease financial burdens on parents and motivate pupils to learn and wondered why education authorities would want to keep the books in stores. He said such acts were tantamount to undermining government's directives and repeated that offenders would not be spared. Mr Amenowode said the RCC would undertake periodic monitoring to ensure that pupils in the region received the books.

On Friday when GNA visited selected schools in the Municipality with some officials from the Ghana Education Service and the VRCC, it observed that the first consignments of the exercise books were given to deprived schools. The heads of some of the schools distributed the books but kept some in the school stores.