Basic Education in Ghana will be compulsory and free by the year 2005 for all children of school-going age, the First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, announced on Wednesday.

She said the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme, which began in 1989, is on course, as more school structures are being provided and more teachers are being trained.

Nana Konadu, who is President of the December 31st Women's Movement, a non-governmental organisation, was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Offinso- Afrancho in the Offinso district, to cut the sod for a day-care centre as part of her two-day visit to the Ashanti Region.

The First Lady said education is vital in the socio-economic development of every country and the FCUBE programme was initiated to make education accessible to every child.

She said as at 1982 there were 6,200 schools with 700,000 pupils but between 1982 and now, 3,000 additional schools have been built and the number of pupils has increased to nearly 2.3 million.

Student population in the polytechnics has also increased from 2,000 in 1987 to 12,000 this year, while the universities have increased their intake within the same period from 2,000 to 31,000 students