Fijai (W/R), March 30, GNA - Madam Betty Bosomtwi-Sam, Deputy Western Regional Minister, on Monday said that government was committed to improv= ing the country's education.

She said basic education would be free for all children of school going age, as guaranteed by the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, National Poverty Reduction Strategies and Millennium Development Goals.

Madam Bosomtwi-Sam was Opening the Fourth Western Regional Education=

Sector Annual Review meeting at Fijai near Takoradi. She said government was developing an Education Strategic Plan (ESP)=

for the implementation of the Free Compulsory and Universal Basic Educati= on policy.

Madam Bosomtwi-Sam said that the authorities had increased the Capitation Grant from three Ghana Cedis to four Ghana Cedis 50 pesewas, planned to restructure and expand the School Feeding Programme, provided free school uniforms and exercise books to school children and taken measures to review the school shift system.

Mr. Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, the Director-General of Ghana Education=

Service (GES), in a speech read on his behalf, said that the draft ESP, which covered 2010 to 2020, was guided by policies formulated over the years, following the publication of the previous ESP in May 2003. He said these included the National Education Reform Implementation Committee and the Education Act, both of which were guided by the revised=

Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Mr. Bannerman-Mensah said Ghana supported the "Education for All" principle and process, and had developed programmes to put into effect th= e six goals arising from the 2000 World Education forum in Dakar, Senegal. He said that the goals included expanding and improving comprehensiv= e early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable an= d disadvantaged children, ensuring that by 2015, all children, particularly=

girls, in difficult circumstances, and those belonging to ethnic minoriti= es had access to and completed free and compulsory primary education of good=

quality.

Mrs. Rebecca Efiba Dadzie, Regional Director of Education, said government had initiated a programme to ensure that Senior High Schools (SHS) admitted first year students for the next academic year. She said plans were afoot to construct extra dormitories and classro= om blocks for SHSs and teams would tour schools to identify required educational facilities, adding that measures would be taken to complete a= ll on-going projects.

Mrs. Dadzie said the meeting was instituted by the GES to serve as a=

participatory forum for stakeholders to assess educational performance, consolidate achievements and to enhance accountability and transparency among stakeholders. Awulae Annor Adjaye 111, Omanhene of Western Nzema Traditional Area,=

noted that education formed the foundation for development and called for=

non-partisan approach to the development of the sector. He called for determination of the duration of the SHS programme onc= e and for all and this should be binding on future governments. Awulae Adjaye expressed worry that some teachers were quitting the classroom to become cocoa purchasing clerks and mine workers, due to poor=

salaries and working conditions and hoped that the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure would help address this problem.