Kwahu Tafo (E/R), Nov 2, GNA - Mr Alex Tetteh-Enyo, the Minister of Education, has said community and stakeholder participation in expanding educational facilities was important to achieve quality education. He said the process of expansion in the senior high schools had been put in place by the government and would need the partnership of groups and the community at large. Mr Tetteh-Enyo said this at the inauguration of a six-unit classroom block for the St Joseph's Technical Institute in Kwahu Tafo. He said education remained the life wire for and development of communities and that attention had to be given to education to achieve development.

Mr Tetteh-Enyo said the classroom blocks would help reduce congestion in classrooms as well as allow schools to admit the first year students for the 2010/2011 academic year. He said the government would continue to ensure universal education for all to ensure that irrespective of whatever circumstances no Ghanaian child would be denied quality education. Mr Tetteh-Enyo commended the board and staff members for their hard work and commitment to ensuring the continuity of the academic work in these hard times and urged students to strive hard to acquire knowledge, skills and attitude in order to have brighter futures. Mr Samuel Asamoah, the District Chief Executive of Kwahu East, said the government had embarked on massive development of education infrastructure. Mr Asamoah said the capacity of the country to address youth unemployment and eradicate poverty largely depended on technical and vocational training, adding that the district assembly would continue to address the numerous challenges facing the education sector with the support of central government and development partners. He called on both students and staff to take maximum advantage of the facility to excel in academic and practical performance to justify the need for continues support from government and the assembly. Mr Baffour-Awuah, the District Director of Education for Kwahu East, said the rate at which teachers leave school in the district was alarming and called on government to provide accommodation for teachers especially in the deprived areas. The Principal of the school, Mr Joseph Amoah, appealed to the government to empower all technical schools in the country by way of building their capacity to enable them to organise short term courses for candidates who could not gain admission into secondary and technical schools. He expressed appreciation to the government for assisting the institute.