Accra, Sept 13, GNA - A four-member delegation from Ghana led by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu returned home today after attending the 47th United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) International Conference on Education in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference, held from September 8-11 discussed and proposed priorities to improve on quality education for young people.

Mr Baah Wiredu told journalists on arrival that the meeting examined problems hindering quality education for the young and came up with proposals to solve them. He said the meeting recognised that promoting quality education for people between 12 and 20 was crucial for a better future and was an indispensable means of combating social exclusion at the local, national and global levels.

Mr Baah Wiredu said the conference observed that while most countries in both the South and North were confronted with difficulties in their educational systems,the number of problems facing developing countries was nothing to write home about. He noted that the educational systems did not meet the needs of young people and the society and said the meeting observed that millions of young people particularly in the developing world, who finished primary school were denied the opportunity to continue their education.

Mr Baah Wiredu said the meeting understood the importance of education in national development and appealed for the mobilisation of all partners to respond positively to the challenges of educating young people as lots of them were denied the opportunity to acquire the necessary knowledge, attitude and value for life in the 21st Century. On teacher training education, the Minister said the conference re-affirmed the central and important role that teachers and trainees played and urged member countries to reinforce their professional standards with the view to better positioning them to handle the new demands placed on them. He said the meeting concluded that teachers and trainers in several parts of the world lack sufficient training, resources, support and conducive conditions of service and therefore could not be effective in facilitating learning," he said.

Other members of the delegation were the Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Mr A. H. O. Assuman, the Principal of the Methodist College, Reverend Professor Agyapong and the Executive Secretary of the Ghana UNESCO Commission, Mrs Charity Amamoo.