The District Chief Executive for Ahafo Ano North, Mr. David Addai Amankwah has bemoaned the upsurge of child labour in the district which according to him has contributed to the falling standard of education in the district.

Mr. Amankwah mentioned some of the causes as punctuality and regularity to school on the part of both teachers and pupils, lack of teachers’ accomodation, wholesale promotion of pupils, lack of corporation between schools and the community and large enrollment in most of the schools leading to large class sizes among other factors.

Giving a breakdown to butress the intensity of the problem, he said the percentage pass of the pupils who sat for the 2006 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) stood at 61.9%, falling to 41.4 percentin 2007 and then saw a further drop to 36.2 percent in 2008.

The DCE expressed these concerns when he addressed a stakeholders’ meeting at the Omanhene’s palace to find a lasting panacea to the falling standard of education in the district.

Child labour according to him, was taking a toll on the children and pushed for support for the protection of children’s rights at all times.

"The greatest asset of the nation is our youth and should be given the needed and necessary education in order to achive the development we are all yearning for.

He thus implored all stakeholders, especially the traditional leaders, parents and teachers to take a share of the blame and subsequently be part of the solution.

Mr. Amankwah took issue with parents who shirk the responsibilities towards their wards and reminded them of the need for quality education.

"As parents, the best heritage bequathing our children is education. I would like to make entreat all parents to make the provision of quality education for their wards as their tomost priority.

Ghanadistricts.com

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