Chereponi (N/R), April 18, GNA - Mr. Emmanuel Kandoh, Presiding Member of the Chereponi District Assembly on Friday appealed to the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to intensify education on the H1N1 influenza to reduce its spread especially to rural communities.

He said there was the need for the Health Ministry and the GHS to educate assembly members and other stakeholders to mount a rigorous education campaign on the pandemic to ensure that it did not spread to other areas to halt education and other economic activities. He said the pandemic, which was fast spreading in some parts of the country resulting in the closure of some schools, should not be allowed to engulf the nation.

Mr. Kandoh, who made the appeal during the first Ordinary Meeting of the Assembly, also touched on the Cerebra-Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and advised members, especially those in the north, to embark on a campaign to educate the people to sleep in well ventilated rooms to prevent its spread.

He said CSM related deaths have occurred in the district and there was the need for the assembly to support the fight against the disease to prevent more deaths.

Alhaji Mohammed Issah Abah, District Chief Executive, decried the poor internally generated revenue of the assembly and called on members to intensify their revenue collection to enhance development. He said the assembly as at the end of February this year, collected GH¢12,275.00 out of the estimated of GH¢36,380.00, which was abysmally low and could not execute any project.

The DCE also expressed disappointment at the performance of pupils and students at the 2009 BECE and WASSCE which were so poor that concrete steps had to be taken to improve on subsequent ones. Alhaji Abah said in spite of the myriad of problems facing education in the district, efforts were still made to provide the needed support to improve teaching and learning saying; "The assembly would continue to provide classroom blocks, teachers' quarters and libraries." He said the assembly had also received support from the Community Based Rural Development Programme (CBRDP) to rehabilitate 13 educational facilities in the district that were affected by rainstorm last year. Alhaji Abah said the GETFund had supported the construction of a six unit classroom block at the Chereponi Senior High Technical School to cater for the infrastructure needs.

He mentioned a lot of development projects both completed and ongoing in the district, including roads, teachers' quarters, bungalow for assembly staff and school blocks for some communities. Earlier, the assembly presented a total of 112, 484 free exercise books and a quantity of school uniforms to the District Education Directorate for distribution to school children. Kpan-Na M. Baba Bawa, a Member of the Council of State, who presented the books, said the government was committed to improving education in the country especially in the rural areas.