Regional News of Sunday, 8 May 2005

Source: GNA

Fashion by youth to re-sit exams not healthy

Effiakuma (W/R) May 8, -GNA-Mr. Kojo Atta-Obeng, headmaster of the Shama Secondary School said the fashion to re-sit all examinations by students was not healthy. He said most students who sat for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE), had already started preparing for remedial examinations.

Mr. Atta-Obeng was addressing the Synod Youth rally of the Sekondi Diocese of the Methodist Church at Effiakuma on Saturday. The Synod is on the theme: " 170 years of Methodism in Ghana; fulfilling our God Given Obligation."

"Large amounts of money are waste on re-medial classes and examinations whereas such funds could have been channelled into other expenditures for their own sake," he stressed.

Mr. Atta-Obeng, who is also a member of the Committee on Education and Youth (CEY) said the future of the church and nation relied greatly with the youth and they should take their education seriously. He said the selection of new candidates for the Senior Secondary Schools in September this year has been computerised and efforts by parents to influence the selection process would not be easy. "He said with the computerisation, manipulation and the use of old students associations and relations to seek admissions, would be greatly minimised," he added.

The Right Reverend John Harvey-Ewusi, Methodist Bishop of the Sekondi Diocese said the role of the youth in the development of the church and the nation cannot be underestimated and called on the youth to be submissive, learn from the elderly and improve on their education laurels.

He said the vision of the church must not be substituted with other programmes that divert attention from the main focus of the church. Bishop Harvey-Ewusi said the church would continue to play its role in the development of the human resource of the individual for the growth of the nation.

In a related development, Mrs. Hagar A. Ntarmah, Secretary of the Women's Fellowship, addressing the women's rally said the roles of women in the upbringing of the children and towards societal development must be commended.

She said it was sad that several women's issues are not taken seriously by society adding, "without them, many homes would have broken down". Mrs. Ntarmah charged women to continually strive to assist in the proper training of the youth in household work, courtesy and other relevant issues that may be needed in future.