Schools Athletics Competition Opens in Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga, June 16, GNA - A three-day athletics and cross-country competition for Second-Cycle Schools in the Upper East Region opened at the Bolgatanga stadium on Thursday.
In all 23 Secondary and Technical Schools from the Region would be competing for honours in various field and track events as well as in the cross country race.
The Regional Minister, Mr. Boniface Gambila, in an opening address, underscored the benefits of sporting activities to the individual and the nation.
He therefore urged students to attach the same importance to sports as they did to their academic pursuits and their syllabus. Mr Gambilla called on the competitors to eschew acts of indiscipline on and off the field and to exhibit true spirit of sportsmanship by putting up their best performance and sticking to the rules governing the events.
The Regional Minister expressed concern about the lack of field and track equipment to facilitate sporting activities in the Region, and said the Regional Coordinating Council is collaborating with the District Assemblies at addressing those concerns. Mr. Gambila used the occasion to counsel students against violent demonstrations and the wanton destruction of school property. "We should bear in mind that by vandalizing school facilities in such a barbaric manner, we are denying our own younger brothers and sisters and our children the opportunity to benefit from those facilities, and posterity would not forgive us."
The Regional Schools Athletics Competition is a bi-annual event which brings participating schools from all the eight Districts of the Region. The last of such events was held in 2005, when Navrongo Secondary School emerged tops in athletics. 16 June 07