SMCs and PTAs Empowered in Wa West District

A two day capacity building training workshop attended by 60 coalitions based School Management Committees (SMC) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) members representing 40 schools in 20communities in the Wa West District of the Upper West Region, has ended at Wechiau, the district capital. SMCs and PTAs have become very crucial pillars in the management and supervision of activities and projects in schools.
The training was targeted at kitting participants with advocacy and community engagement skills for the effective management of schools as well as ensuring that girls, migrant children and children with disabilities remain in school with increased attendance and transition from primary to the junior high school level is uninterrupted as well.
This training workshop was organized by the centre for community participation and development (CCPAD) a local NGO in partnership with Pronet North with funding from STAR-GHANA, under the initiative of Partnering for Inclusive Education in Northern Ghana (PIENG). It is a three year project in the wa west district and Nkronza north districts of Upper West and Brong Ahafo regions respectively. The PIENG initiative aims to promote girl child education, migrant children and children with disabilities in the two districts.
Mr. Prince Cesar Tampah, Project Officer of PIENG in the wa west district called for all stakeholders to bring all hands on deck to promote the education of vulnerable children in the district. He exhorted the participants to use the skills they have acquired to liaise with community members to eradicate socio cultural practices that bar children in general and girls in particular from going to school. ‘You need to use this training and influence you have in your communities to advocate for greater community involvement in school management’ he added.
The representative of the district director of education Mr. Primus Barong expressed gratitude o the organizers of the workshop. He deplored the negative attitudes by some parents, who shirked their responsibilities towards the education of their children and advised such parents to change. He expressed gratitude to the PIENG for considering the plight and education of the youth of the new district and urged the chiefs, elders, opinion leaders and people of the school communities to support the project. ‘Education of our children should be the priority of all’ he admonished
Most of the participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers of the program for the empowerment and called on them to organize more of such workshops.
Joseph Oswald Ali
Freelance Journalist