Tema, July 7, GNA - Mrs Lucy Kwapong, Tema municipal director of Education has said that, if steps were not taken to inculcate Ghana's rich culture in the youth through the formal education system, the nation would loose her rich cultural heritage in the near future. She said for this calamity to be forestalled, there was the need for opinion leaders and stakeholders in education to critically study Ghana's culture to be better placed to introduce the positive aspects of it into the schools syllabus.

Mrs Kwapong said, "posterity would not forgive the present generation, they failed to protect our culture".

"The indiscipline and intolerance being shown by students and the youth in schools and the society at large, is a challenge to our culture, which needs immediate attention".

She was welcoming the audience to the Sixth Tema Municipal Second Cycle Institutions Festival of Arts, dubbed "Studrafest", with the theme, "Indiscipline And Intolerance In Our Schools- A Challenge To Culture". It was aimed at harnessing the artistic talents of the students and sought to instil in them the love for the rich Ghanaian values and practices.

Participating secondary schools were Chemu, Temasco, Olam, Presbyterian Day, Methodist Day, Ashaiman, Manhean and Tema Technical Institute. The Director wondered how students could have the audacity to destroy school properties, squander fees, steal, disrespect of authority, bullying of juniors and practice immoral acts without regret and blamed this on the break down of discipline. Mrs Kwapong said Ghanaian culture had in place many more norms and practices to ensure discipline and tolerance in the society, however, the same could not be said of today's society with the Western education and way of life.

"The practicing of Western or foreign culture had influenced us to throw away the things that we used to value and cherish in our culture", adding that, indiscipline was a canker, which society was finding hard to deal with.

Nii Tetteh Otu II, Paramount chief of Kpone Traditional Area and president of the Greater Accra Regional House of Chiefs said, culture, as a way of life, must be cherished by all human beings, as it differentiated one group of people from another.

He said no culture could be hidden, for, if properly understood and handled with care, would impact positively on society, however, if allowed to take its course then there was the likelihood that more advanced and aggressive cultures would swallow the lesser ones. In an address, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr David Annang, called for the modification of some of the nation's cultural practices to help impact positively on society.

He said some taboos such as not fishing on specific days and not entering sacred forest were meant to allow nature to replenish its stocks to preserve the environment but regretted that all these were disregarded with impunity.

The Mayor said for instance due to modernity, there was silting of our water bodies and this could be laid on the disregard for culture, whereas in the past these were preserved for spiritual purposes. To enable the youth have respect for these values and practise them, Mr Annang entreated adults to hold themselves as role models, so they could be emulated by the youth rather than to condemn without taking corrective measures.