Mr. John Kwadjo Teku, the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has called on parents to prioritise girl child education to bridge poverty gaps.
He said education remained the best strategy to empowering individuals to attain higher heights and urged parents, especially rural dwellers to take advantage of government's interventions to educate female children.
Mr. Teku said this at the launch of a project by World Bicycle Relief, an NGO and World Vision Ghana with support from World Vision Italy dubbed: Bicycle Education Empowerment Programme (BEEP).
The project presented 1,080 bicycles to pupils at Odumase in the Nkwanta South District of the Volta Region.
Mr Sagane Thiaw, Operations Director, World Vision Ghana said the bicycles were to aid the vulnerable in the District who travel between two to five kilometers by foot to school daily and also to reduce school drop-out rates and to improve access to quality education.
He said about seven million children were out of school due to daily long distance trekking to and from school, which resulted in poor academic performance and appealed to Ghanaians to help create a safe and conducive environment for proper growth of children.
Mr. Eric Showell, Global Director of Programme, World Bicycle Relief, urged beneficiaries to handle the bicycles with utmost care and maintain them to prolong their lifespan.
Mr. John Thasun, Nkwanta South District Chief Executive, expressed gratitude to the benefactors and hoped the gesture would improve education in the District.
The 1,080 bicycles were valued at GHC 648,000.00.
Source: GNA
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |
Thanks for BEEP donation of bicycles to these rural school children, however, I am afraid that free bicycles is the wrong solution to encourage more girls to go to school. What is needed are schools that are near to their homes and incentives like free uniforms and footwear. I am wondering how many schools could have been built for the cost of these bicycles. The fact that they are free does not mean it is the right solution. Ghanaian education experts should be bold to request things that are useful in helping the children instead of just looking at it as freebies.