Mr Jamiu Shewu, President of the Ghana Muslim Academy (GMA), has called for the closure of Sports Gambling Houses within Zongo Communities.

He said their operations were causing more harm than good to the Muslim Youth, because Muslim children were going wayward, highly indisciplined, unproductive, and above all, were cheating in examinations.

Mr Shewu made the call at the closing session of the 21st Dr Ahmed Abdulai Free Vacation Classes organized by the Academy for both first and second cycle students on vacation.

The month-long classes which started on August 3 on the theme: “Eradicating Examination Malpractices Through Quality Education: The Role of the Ghana Muslim Academy,” ended at the Islamic Research and Information Centre at Nima on Thursday, September 3.

Mr Shewu warned against the negative use of the social media against the teachings of Islam by Muslim Youth.

He, therefore, called for responsible parenting and imamship to ensure the practice of the proper and actual teachings of Islam among Muslim Youth in order to help shape their lives.

The GMA President said the Academy had been organizing programmes for the students for the past two decades, and said these include Annual Ramadan Lectures; Dawah Seminars and Guidance and Counselling.

He said the Annual Free Vacation School was initiated in August 1995 with the main objective of giving focused academic support to senior high school students; especially those from deprived communities, to enable them pass and pass well in their final external examinations.

Mr Shewu said the Academy was very much conscious of the fact that most Muslim communities were very deprived and poor, and believed that the only way to create wealth in those communities was to empower them by providing them with quality education.

He said since 1995, the vacation classes had been consistent with tremendous improvement in terms of content, intake and impact, adding that the school registers an average of 500 students every year, with more than 7,000 students so far having benefited.

The GMA President said in 2004 the Junior High School curriculum was introduced into the vacation school, and in 2007, the school was named after the late Dr Abdulai of the Ghana Business School whose sudden death occurred in that same year.

He said until his death, Dr Abdulai was the Chairman of the Board of Patrons of the Academy since its inception, and was very instrumental in getting the school grow from strength to strength year after year.

Students who excelled during the vacation classes were presented with book prizes.