Wenchi (B/A) April 17, GNA - A 10-day intensive residential workshop for 103 zonal supervisors of the Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ministry of Education drawn from six districts in the Brong-Ahafo Region ended at Wenchi on Friday.

The workshop, organized and sponsored by the NFED was aimed at equipping the participants with the requisite knowledge in effective supervision.

The participating districts were Wenchi, Nkoranza, Kintampo, Sene, Atebubu and Techiman Municipality.

The participants were taken through a number of topics including, the overview of the national literacy programme, the roles and qualities of a supervisor and community entry and ownership. Mr. Andrews Akwasi Oppong, Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of the Division who opened the course, expressed optimism that participants would go back well equipped to implement what they would be taught. He called for discipline amongst them and asked them to be punctual to classes and to take the workshop seriously since their contributions would ensure its success.

Nana Frempah Quarshie, a resource person, who lectured on "the overview of NFED" and "the adult learner", urged the supervisors to aim at helping to improve the lives of adult illiterates.

Nana Quarshie who is also the Programme Director at the Techiman Municipal Directorate of the NFED was of the view that, if poverty could be reduced, it was important that, the rural poor were taught some skills to make a living on their own. Mr. Ofusu Boamah, Techiman Municipal Director of the NFED said the provision of quality functional literacy would help the adult learners to improve their standards of living.

Mr. Boamah, who was also a resource person and spoke on "Management information system", expressed optimism that if participants went back and implemented what they had been taught, it would make life a bit comfortable for the rural adult learner.

Closing the workshop, Nana Owusu Ansah Kokroko, Krontihene of Wenchi Traditional area stressed that the NFED was meant to empower the rural poor to become self-sustaining and advised that the programme should therefore not be politicised to benefit only a few people. Nana Kokroko, who is also the presiding member of the Wenchi District Assembly and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ghana News Agency, acknowledged that since its inception, NFED had contributed a lot to making the lives of adult learners worthwhile.

He therefore appealed to communities in which the NFED operated to support and co-operate with the supervisors. 17 April 04