The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church of Ghana, Most Rev. Dr Paul Kwabena Boafo, has appealed to the government to consider enacting a law that would compel heads of institutions to create a budget and a plan for the maintenance of facilities they use to avoid total running down of such infrastructure.
He explained that such laws when operationalized would help prevent the situation whereby institutions such as schools, health facilities and other public institutions are left to rot for a long time without repairs affecting their usage and relevance to society and the nation as a whole.
Most Rev. Dr Boafo made the appeal in his closing remarks when the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, paid a courtesy call on the leadership of the Methodist Church of Ghana in Accra last Friday.
The visit which the Minister describes as a listening tour to all Faith-Based Organizations in the country was aimed at dialoguing and sharing Ideas, explaining government policies on education and also seeking their opinion on other issues relating to the development of education and other facets of life in the country.
Praise
The Presiding Bishop lauded the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum for his effort at transforming the nation’s economy through education.
He was upbeat that the ongoing reforms in the education sector would soon bring about the transformation of the nation’s socio-economic development which held the key to poverty reduction in the long run.
The Presiding Bishop pledged the church’s readiness to continue partnering with the government in its effort at providing education and other development initiatives in the country.
Collaboration
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, addressing the council of the Church said his meeting with the FBOs was to firm up the good relationship that has existed between them and the Ministry.
He explained that everything possible was being done by the government to look for the needed resources despite the current challenges confronting the nation to enable him to continue with the right development agenda set for the nation.
The Education Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe said the transformation agenda of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government would soon lead to the nation competing with other countries when it comes to development, especially in the education sector.
Dr Adutwum took a turn to enumerate the various government initiative being rolled out in the education sector for the transformation of the sector through Science, Technology, Engineering and mathematics (STEM) as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) taking the centre stage of the nation’s education drive.
He also mentioned the introduction of the National Education Leadership Institute (NELI) which would be launched in January next year would train people to become leaders in schools and other educational institutions so they can render efficient and effective leadership skills as heads of institutions.
The Education Minister was hopeful that the commencement of the NELI would eradicate the situation whereby people only become heads of institutions a few years before they retire from active service making them go away with their good leadership skills
Dr Adutwum also spoke about the introduction of Ghana Basic Education Skills (G-BEST) next year which would see students aspiring to Colleges of Education to write entrance examinations to ensure that people who are selected to be trained to become teachers have what it takes to become teachers in the country.
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