Make agricultural science compulsory at all levels of education — Togbe Gbogbolulu
The Paramount Chief of Vakpo in the North Dayi District of the Volta Region, Togbe Gbogbolulu V, has called on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to come out with compulsory and sustainable modules in agricultural science at all levels of education in the country.
“This should start with basic lessons for children in the kindergarten, to intermediate and advanced sessions for students in second cycle and tertiary institutions respectively,” he said.
Togbe Gbogbolulu maintained that such a move would help to discard the notion that agriculture was meant for less intelligent students.
He made the remarks when he presented a set of 50 uniforms to the Vakpo Senior High Technical School at a ceremony at the Vakpo Traditional Council Palace.
Bedrock of nation
Togbe Gbogbolulu said agriculture was the bedrock of every nation, for which reason children must be trained to cherish farming in the broader national interest.
“Agriculture is not meant for blockheads and so we need to commit greater zeal and resources to the teaching of agriculture in our schools and the best way to do this is to make the subject compulsory in the classrooms,” Togbe Gbogbolulu added.
He affirmed the Vakpo traditional authorities’ stance to support practical agriculture in schools at Vakpo with 50,000 acres and help in other ways as well to make agriculture attractive to young people.
“If we produce what we eat and eat what we produce, we will be wealthy as a nation since we do not import food,” the paramount chief explained.
He cited the highly developed countries, saying they derived a huge chunk of their wealth from food production and processing.
“In the abundance of land, we must not be hungry,” the paramount chief insisted, stressing that serious farming would make future generations become inheritors and not just survivors.
Meanwhile, Togbe Gbogbolulu said Vakpo was the only area with a community land, adding that more than 1,000 acres of the community land was being utilised by investors for large-scale mango and cashew cultivation.
