PARENTS of schoolchildren in the Savelugu/Nanton District in the Northern Region have commended President John Evans Atta Mills for his initiative to provide free school uniforms and exercise books for their wards.
They said the guesture had relieved them of some financial expenses they would have made to provide those items.
The parents made the commendation when they witnessed the presentation of school uniforms and exercise books to their wards at various deprived schools in the district.
The exercise books were distributed to all the schoolchildren while 4,000 pupils were selected to receive the uniforms.
The parents maintained that the initiative would increase school enrolment as it would encourage them to send their wards to school at no cost to them.
“The government has taken over the payment of fees and it has also decided to take up the provision of uniforms. We, therefore, have no excuse to keep our children at home,” a trader, Mma Fatima stated.
She, however, appealed to the government to introduce more pro-poor initiatives to support women in micro-enterprise and farming.
“We women go through a lot of suffering to take care of our families, so we appeal to the government to provide us with more money to expand our trade to enable us increase our incomes,” Mma Fatima suggested.
Another parent, Afa Sule, urged the government to expand the school-feeding programme to cover more deprived schools because hunger was one of the things that kept the children out of school.
Presenting the items at the Tarikpaa Primary and Junior High Schools, the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Savelugu/Nanton, Mr Prince Askia Mohammed, said the government was committed to improving education nation-wide.
“We want to achieve the objectives of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme, which seeks to ensure that every child of school age is in school,” he explained.
Mr Mohammed reminded the parents that education was the best way they could empower their children to improve their lot, adding “nobody from outside can come and change our lives unless we ourselves.”
He stressed the need for parents not to leave their female children behind, adding that when girls were educated, they would be more resourceful to their communities than boys.
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