Ekumfi Otuam (C/R), June 14, GNA - The Mfantseman Municipal Chief Executive, (MCE) Mr Henry Kweku Hayford, has led a team to distribute free exercise books, provided by the government, to children in basic schools in the Municipality. The team was made up of the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman East, Mr George Kuntu Blankson, Mr Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, Municipal Director of Education, and members of the Municipal Education Oversight Committee. The exercise books are in fulfilment of the pledge made by President John Evans Atta Mills to Ghanaians during the 2008 electioneering campaign. Mr Hayford encouraged Ghanaians to exercise patience for the President, who was making every effort to fulfil all the promises he had made to the people.

The MCE, a teacher by profession, said the provision of the exercise books was very essential as some children went to school without books to do their exercises.

He said that practice had contributed to the poor performance of some students in examinations with some schools scoring zero percent in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE). Ms Vivian Etroo, Municipal Director of Education, called on parents to be prepared to buy exercise books for their children when those provided by the government were exhausted. She appealed to teachers to ensure that the children used the exercise books wisely.

Ms Etroo commended the MPs for the efforts they were making to improve the standard of education. Mr Kuntu Blankson urged parents to invest in the education of their children since that was the surest means to improve their standard of living. Mr Quansah stressed the importance of education and urged parents to reduce expenses on clothing for funerals and use the money to provide for the needs of their school children. He advised fathers to do more to help mothers in maintaining their children. The MPs talked about the programmes and projects they had initiated for their constituents when the team got to their areas.