Regional News of Thursday, 11 December 2014

Source: GNA

NGO says late release of Capitation Grant affects education

A child right organization that promotes youth and family empowerment, children’s rights, education and freedom from forces labour, Challenging Heights, has said delay in the release of the Capitation Grant had a direct impact on the quality of education the country needs.

Mr. David Kofi Awusi, Advocacy Manager of the Organization, stated this at a durbar of stakeholders in Senya to commemorate their sixth Education Day celebrations under the theme “Quality Education and Proper Heath Care - The requisite tools for nation building.

He said the Capitation Grant had increased primary school enrolment but its challenges had affected the ability of heads of schools to provide teaching learning materials and general funds for the smooth running of school.

Mr. Awusi said it was important to stop child labour and child trafficking as well as bottlenecks with the Capitation Grant to ensure that both boys and girls access their basic right to education which is critical in achieving quality and affordable basic education.

Mr. Awusi said a study done by International Labour Organization (ILO) and Government of Ghana (GOG) in August 2013 revealed that over 49, 000 children were working on Volta Lake and out of the figure over 21,000 of them are in hazardous labour.

Mr. David Nana Labie, a former Member of Parliament for Awutu-Senya, appealed to patents to invest in the education of their children with their limited resources rather than using such resources on litigation.