Akwatia, Feb 28, GNA - Professor S.K.B. Asante, an international consultant and educationist, has said education was the key to prosperity in "this brave new world of the 21st century". He said the need for acquisition of education and knowledge had not been more important for the future of Ghana and the rest of Africa than it was at present.

Speaking at the 40th anniversary celebration speech and prize-giving day of the St Rose's Secondary School at Akwatia, Prof Asante described education as the engine of growth for development and the progress of the nation and all sectors of national life revolved around it.

He said since the most valued resource of the age was intellectual capital, "those of us in the rural areas are seriously concerned about the deprivations and interlocking problems facing our schools, such as St Rose's location in the thick rural setting".

Prof. Asante, a member of the school's Board of Governors, stated that there was no way that Ghana could attain the much coveted middle-income status standard of living or join the enviable club of newly-industrializing countries in the foreseeable future without first upgrading rural areas socially, economically and environmentally. That, he said, was necessary to achieve a better balance between rural and urban investment through the allocation of considerable resources to education to accelerate the rate of development in the rural areas.

Prof Asante, who is a member of the African Peer Review Ghana, Governing Council, said it was necessary for the government to stimulate efforts towards reducing disparities in incomes and standards of living between rural and urban populations in order to attract good and dedicated teachers to the rural areas.

"Indeed, an improvement in our rural conditions is really essential, not only on moral grounds, but also as a necessary condition for the effective mobilization of our manpower, initiative and innovation in order to utilize the abundant but presently under-utilized resources with which the country is endowed." 28 Feb 06