Walewale (N/R), May 3, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday lamented the attitude of some teachers and education workers, particularly those from the north, for their refusal to accept postings to serve in their communities. He said the situation, coupled with poor infrastructure and outdated customary beliefs in the deprived areas of the country, was serving as a disincentive for parents to send their wards to school, despite the introduction of the school feeding programme and the capitation grant.

Vice President Mahama expressed the concern in Walewale, when he launched the "Tackling Education Needs Inclusively" (TENI), a five-year education programme, initiated by Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), to address education needs in some parts of the north. Some 48,000 children, 2,000 teachers and 25,000 parents from the West Mamprusi District in the Northern Region, Talensi-Nabdam in the Upper East Region and Jirapa in the Upper West Region would directly benefit from the programme.

Comic Relief, UK-based grants making organisation, is funding the phase I of TENI with 3 million pounds Sterling. Vice President Mahama said quality education remained the bedrock for poverty reduction and sustained development and that developing countries were trying hard to comply with the MDGs of providing quality education for all children by 2015. He said government was doing its best to provide the needed incentives and infrastructure to make rural areas attractive for teachers and other educational personnel to accept postings there. He said there was also the need for the communities to make it possible in their own modest ways, to attract teachers to their areas. He commended VSO for the initiative and advised the beneficiaries to take advantage of the programme and improve their education and their communities.

Mr Amidu Ibrahim Tanko, Country Director of VSO-Ghana said TENI had been introduced due to the continued gender parity, especially girls, and the under performance of school children from the selected areas. He said lack of teachers in rural areas, weak capacity of teachers, lack of teaching and learning materials and the inability of school heads to manage absenteeism were factors that accounted for poor performance of children in the north. He commended the government's initiatives of distributing text books, school uniforms, upgrading of the teacher training colleges and the continuation of the school feeding programme as well the Capitation Grant, which he said would help to improve education in the country. Mr Tanko said TENI would work with government, community leaders, education managers and civil society, to significantly improve the retention and performance of the school children, particularly girls, in basic schools. Naa Professor John Nabila, President of the National House of Chiefs, who chaired the function, called for a multi-faceted approach to improving education in the north, which could also address the poverty in the area. 3 May 10