President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday, called on Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) to be in the forefront in the search for solutions to the seemingly intractable problems facing the society.

He said government knew their worth and was proud to have such a reservoir of talent and intellectual achievements, adding " government will therefore always keep its doors open to you and co-operate with you in the service of the nation."

President Kufuor made the call when addressing the 43rd anniversary celebrations and awards dinner of the Academy in Accra, at the end of its week-long lectures and symposia at which various aspects of life were addressed.

President Kufuor said the Academy should be the celebration of the developed mind, which enabled the human being to be versatile.

He said a developed mind tended to be a repository of tolerance and respect for others, attributes that were vital ingredients for proper democratic governance and evolution.

President Kufuor said unfortunately, the impact of the activities of the Academy was yet to be fully felt "in the social and economic engineering the nation must have in order to advance."

He said the government's commitment to restore quality education across the rural-urban divide required the Academy's undiluted support and co-operation.

President Kufuor said the challenge on education was to radically improve teacher training in order to produce teachers not only in the required numbers but also to motivate them adequately to meet the demands of the country's growing population.

Professor Fred T. Sai, President, said the Academy was a bastion of knowledge, wisdom and experience, which should be tapped by government. He called for the opening of channels for continuous dialogue to enable the Academy play its rightful role in the development efforts of the country. Professor Sai said the Academy was prepared to work with government on issues of research, evaluation and the dissemination of knowledge.

He suggested that the Academy should be assisted by government to undertake an evaluation of the National Service Scheme (NSS), which was introduced in 1970 to realise its impact on the country. President Kufuor later presented the Academy's Silver Award for 1999 to Mr Kobina Impraim Adentwi, a lecturer of the Kumasi Campus of the University College of Education of Winneba (UCEW).

He was presented with three million cedis, a certificate and a citation for his outstanding entry on his Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) thesis entitled " Teachers' and Students Perceptions of Classroom Indiscipline in Selected Senior Secondary Schools in the Cape Coast Municipality." The citation said " Mr Adentwi's detailed and exhaustive study on the very important problem of classroom discipline in Senior Secondary Schools and remedial measures to correct them had not only been useful in the classroom and in the school, but even more importantly at the training institutions for teachers."

Mr Adentwi in response said "he was hopeful his contribution would be useful to the problem of indiscipline in the society, adding that indiscipline in the classroom was not different from indiscipline in the entire society."