Accra, Sept. 11, GNA - Some looked moody, others cried and yet others dozed. That was the mood in Kindergartens as children went to school for the first time as the government's new education reform, which makes Kindergartens part of public schools, got off the ground on Tuesday with the beginning of the 2007/2008 academic year.

Smiles were, however, brought to the faces of the children when officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES) arrived and dished out stationery, biscuits and caps with the inscription "My First Day at School" to them.

Teachers also had their share of the goodies as they were given Ghana@50 polo shirts, caps, calendars and teaching aids to assist them in teaching the children.

"My First Day at School" was instituted by the government last academic year to make school a memorable one for the young ones. A visit by the GNA to some schools in Accra on Tuesday showed that limitation of physical infrastructure was a major hindrance to more children being admitted to school.

Many parents and guardians said they had not been able to secure admission for their children and wards because of overstretched facilities.

According to Mrs Roseline Takyi, Assistant Headmistress of Presec Staff Primary School, the intake of pupils into kindergarten only saw a marginal increase to 43 for each class as compared to 40 last academic year.

"We would have loved to take in as many pupils as possible but our facilities cannot contain them. We do not want to have large classes so we could not admit all applicants," she said.

She said the school, which was a public one, enjoyed the capitation grant but was not on the school feeding programme. At the Flagstaff House Basic School, Mrs Sylvia Mahama, Headmistress, said response was encouraging. She could not give the total number of pupils who had been admitted on Tuesday since the period for admissions was not yet over but said more children were expected to be admitted this year.

GES Officials also gave the pupils stationery, caps and biscuits. At Presecc Boys Senior High School, Mr Kwame Anane, Headmaster, said the School, being one of the best in the country, was ever ready for the new education reform.

He said most of the students in the school had basic knowledge in ICT and this had lessened the burden of the school as far as the introduction of the subject was concerned.

Mr Anane added that the school also had enough facilities to contain students for the introduction of the new reform under which the duration of second cycle education would be four years instead of three. He said the school would next month connect its computer laboratory to the Internet to prevent students from running to town to browse on the Internet.