Koforidua, Mar. 1, GNA- The Vicar General of the Catholic Diocese of Koforidua, the Very Rev. Fr Joseph Afrifah-Agyekum, has urged stakeholders to contribute to the improvement of education that would meet national aspirations.

Speaking at a symposium to mark the Second Catholic Education Week celebration at Koforidua on Friday, he asked the laity in the Church to appreciate the top positions occupied by Catholic Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) in last year's SSSCE results and sustain it. The results indicated that eight of the first ten public SSS were Catholic schools while the first two schools among the 25 private SSS were also Catholic.

The Week had the theme: "The role of the laity in Catholic education in Ghana".

Fr. Afrifah-Agyekum assured the people that since education was part of the core mandate given to the Church by Jesus Christ, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was determined to mobilize available human and financial resources to live up to its the mandate.

Rev. Sister Cecilia Boateng, (SSpS) and a tutor of the Pope John Secondary School, Effiduase-Koforidua, referred to the deplorable infrastructure in some Catholic schools and said the results attained by the Catholic schools coupled with support from the government and other education stakeholders, many of the institutions could do better. She urged the local managers to step up their supervisory and spiritual roles while teachers should be more responsive to their professional duties.

A former Eastern Regional Manager of Catholic Education Unit, Mr Ben Gboloo, who spoke on "The role of the teacher in Catholic Education", asked headteachers to institute in-service training programmes to update the skills of teachers under them to enhance their output.

He asked them to supervise teachers and their work and make the environment of schools attractive to promote teaching and learning. A retired educationist, Mr Joachim Bedjabeng, called on parents to let moral and spiritual lives be role models for their children.