Nayagnia (UER), Dec. 30, GNA - Mr. Mark Woyongo, Upper East Regional Minister, on Monday called for the establishment of an Educational Endowment Fund for Nayagenia community in Kassena-Nankana East District, to assist needy but brilliant students to complete their education. He said this would enable the youth, especially those in tertiary institutions, to harness their potentials for national development. Mr. Woyongo was addressing a homecoming durbar organized by Nayagnia Development Association for citizens of the community to discuss development concerns of the area.

He appealed to the people to initiate self-help projects since government alone could not provide them with their development needs. Mr. Woyongo commended the Association for putting in place programmes to develop the community and called on the citizens to support the initiative.

Mr. Woyongo said that government was committed to providing quality education for all Ghanaians as a way of reducing poverty. He said that government's plans to upgrade basic school facilities would continue and the Capitation Grant and School Feeding Programme would also be expanded to improve upon education in the country. Mr. Woyongo said as part of the measures, old libraries and classroom blocks would be rehabilitated and new ones built to increase school enrolment.

Mr. Ben-Rogers Bagnabu, Chairman of the Association, said the group has initiated a development programme for the area including the construction of a community health facility. He said that some philanthropists have donated building materials worth 25,000 Ghana cedis towards the project. The Regional Director of Education, Mrs. Agnes Atangabey appealed to parents to invest in the education of their children and ensure that they (children) took their studies seriously to enable them to acquire knowledge and skills required for national development. She advised school children to learn hard so that they could pass their examinations to justify the huge investment being made in their education by their parents and government.