Funsi, (U/W), May 6, GNA - The Wa East District Assembly would this year replace all dilapidated and mud

structures that are serving as classrooms in the area. Mr. Ameen Salifu, District Chief Executive (DCE) who made this known during the Assembly's first ordinary meeting

at Funsi in the Upper West Region, said the move was intended to create a congenial atmosphere for effective teaching

and learning. The DCE pointed out that education remained the only window of hope for people in the district. Mr. Salifu noted that inadequate number of trained teachers in the district is seriously affecting educational

standards and pledged the assembly's commitment to offer financial assistance to teacher trainees to help reverse the

situation in due course. He said that the only Senior High School that was under construction in the district would admit first year students

during the 2010/2011 academic year and urged the community members to give out their maximum support to the

teachers and students to make the academic facility one of the best in the region. Mr. Salifu expressed concern about the migration of the youth from the district to Tinga in the Northern Region to

engage in illegal mining popularly referred to as "Galamsey" at the expense of their education. He expressed regret that the dangerous trend also involved minors who sometimes returned home with unwanted

pregnancies, HIV/AIDS and other socially deplorable conditions. The DCE therefore appealed to chiefs, assembly members and opinion leaders in the district to help stem the

negative trend so that their investment in education did not go waste.