Wa, Jan. 3, GNA - Education Development Fund for Muslim Youth (EDUFU= ND) a non-governmental organization operating in the Upper West Region, has awarded 42 brilliant students for distinguishing themselves in the 2010 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The awardees, who came from 21 Islamic schools in the Region, took hom= e one school bag each containing books, a mathematical set, a dictionary, Islamic educational materials and a certificate at total cost of GH¢4,200= .. Kabanye Islamic JHS, Falahia Islamic JHS and Limanyiri Model JHS wer= e also awarded for having emerged as the best Islamic schools respectively in 2010 while three Arabic teachers also took home prizes for excelling in the teaching of Arabic. Alhaji Issahaku Salia, the Upper West Regional Minister, commended EDUFUND for taking keen interest in promoting quality education at the basi= c schools.

He said the government needed more of such partnership from civil society organisations to be able to execute the better Ghana Agenda. Alhaji Salia said Muslims had not demonstrated sufficient attention to the quality of education given to their children and this affected the progress of education in Muslim communities.

He said education was the best legacy one could leave for children and urged his colleague Muslims to show interest in partnering with other education stakeholders to manage education resources.

Alhaji Salih Nurideen, the Upper West Regional Manager of the Islamic Education Unit, said the Unit was faced with lack of office and residential accommodation for managers of the units, text books, inadequate Arabic teachers and means of transport to enhance monitoring and supervision. Mr. Iddrisu Mahama, Sissala East District Director of Education, said school governance and accountability seemed generally weak because of the less involvement of School Management Committees (SMCs) and the Parent/Teacher Associations in the schools financial management.