Offinso (Ashanti), 10 March '99 -

The Offinso District Assembly has set up an educational endowment fund to raise funds to provide teaching and learning materials for schools and offer scholarships to brilliant but needy students in the district. Mr Benjamin Brefoh, District Chief Executive who announced this at a parade of school children to mark Ghana's 42nd independence anniversary at Offinso last weekend, said the assembly has also initiated programmes to ensure effective supervision of schools to improve educational standard in the area. He said the provision of numerous educational infrastructure and community libraries is a reflection of the assembly's commitment to ensure quality education. Mr Brefoh said the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) is aimed at offering quality education to future generations and called on parents to provide the needs of their wards to enable them to acquire thhe requisite knowledge, skills or vocational training to enable them earn a living in future. He urged teachers to be committed to their profession and help produce disciplined and morally upright students, saying "education is the key to every nation's development".