Parents shirking responsibility towards children’s education — Vice-President
The Vice-President, Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, has expressed worry about some parents neglecting their role in education because the government has undertaken to reduce the burden of cost in education.
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He said the various interventions by the government that allowed many people to have access to education should not be misinterpreted as government taking over the responsibilities of parents and guardians in the education of children.
Mr Amissah-Arthur explained that the government intervened to share in the cost of education and not because it wanted to take up the responsibility parents bore with regard to their children’s education.
The Vice-President expressed the concern at an open day to mark the 65th anniversary celebration of the Methodist Primary B School in Cape Coast last Thursday.
Govt’s intervention, not takeover
He observed that many parents and guardians were systematically withdrawing support for their children and wards because the government was taking up a significant portion of the cost.
He said every intervention by the government must be seen as support for parents and not a total take-over of their responsibilities. “This must not be,” he added.
The Vice-President, who was a pupil of the school from 1957 to 1961, presented computers and books to the school and said he was glad to be back to support his former school.
Shared Responsibility
Mr Amissah-Arthur pointed out that educating children was a shared responsibility among parents, teachers, the communities and government, with each playing their roles well to ensure that the children received quality education.
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He noted with concern that some parents were also unable to provide the emotional and physical support their children needed to excel in school.
He said if Ghanaian children were to compete favourably with their counterparts from other parts of the globe, then there was the need to prepare them adequately by providing them with quality education.
The Central Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Cape Coast, Mr Kweku Ricketts Hagan, who is also an old pupil of the school, said many people had passed through the school and urged all the old pupils to help restore it to its former glory.
The Metropolitan Director of Education for Cape Coast, Mr Stephen Amoah, encouraged parents to provide their children’s needs with regard to education in particular, if they want them to make it in life.
The headteacher of the school, Ms Rebecca Yeboah, for her part, said the school had become known for producing renowned personalities, including ambassadors, politicians, teachers and nurses, who were contributing meaningfully to national development.
She called for renovation of the school’s classrooms and landscaping to reduce erosion and give it a more beautiful look. She said the school also needed an ICT facility.
Ms Yeboah urged parents to do more to educate their children to the highest level possible since education was one sure way of bridging the social gap between the rich and the poor.