Accra (Greater Accra), 7th May ?99 ?

Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) on Thursday said the Ministry of Education (MOE) and GES are now directing attention to achieving quality education.

He said District Education Oversight Committees have been set up throughout the country as part of measures to ensure that schools are properly supervised and monitored.

Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi who was speaking at the 47th speech and prize-giving day of the St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Accra said the development of the country's human resources is of prime concern to government and has engaged its attention over the past two decades.

The Director-General said government's concern on education is manifested in the huge sums of money, which have been invested since the commencement of the implementation of education reforms in 1987.

He noted that the old educational system satisfied the needs of the time that it was in operation.

"As our country continues to develop and grow, especially, in population and technology, it has become necessary to take another look at the whole educational system's suitability to meet the exigencies of our time."

The Reverend Father Samuel Batsa, headmaster, said the results of the 1998 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) was a remarkable achievement.

He said the school presented 257 candidates out of which 164 passed in all seven subjects, 43 candidates passed in six subjects, 19 passed in five subjects, 18 in four subject with only two candidates failing in all the seven subjects.

Father Batsa noted that the total failure would not have been recorded if weak students are repeated and said, "nowadays, government policy does not appear to favour repetition".

Master William Sagoe, Senior Prefect, commended the headmaster and the teaching staff for providing the students with good tuition and a sound environment to study adding that a readers club would be formed to promote the formation of the reading habit.

He said a computer club would also be inaugurated and appealed to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other organisations to donate computers to support the school in its drive to make the students computer literate.