Nkorang (Ash), Dec 11, GNA - Residents of Nkorang, a farming community near Nkawie in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District, have attributed the high school drop out rate, especially among girls, to lack of parental care as a result of broken marriages.

To address the problem, the District Education Directorate has launched a programme to counsel the affected parents and guardians on the need to adequately provide their wards and children with their basic needs and requirements. Mr Richard Owusu-Agyemang, the District Community Participation Co-ordinator who launched the programme at an education forum at Nkorang on Saturday, said the successful implementation of the country's educational policies and programmes depended on the support and co-operation from the stakeholders in the communities. He said he was not happy about the unproductive rivalry between some local communities and the school authorities. Such rivalries, he said, do not augur well for the effective development and promotion of quality education delivery. Mr Owusu-Agyemang reiterated his condemnation of defecation in the classrooms and on the school premises, which he said is rampant in the district.