Sekondi, Jan. 3, GNA - Mr. John Hackman, the Western Regional Director of the Department of Children, on Wednesday called on parents to take advantage of the government's pro-poor programmes for the benefit of their children. Speaking to the GNA in an interview, Mr. Hackman said children could not directly assess pro-poor programmes such as the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) unless parents enrolled them in school and register them for the NHIS. He said many children were not benefiting from the Capitation Grant, School Feeding Programme and the NHIS because their parents have not sent them to school and have not registered with the scheme.

Mr. Hackman urged parents to impress upon their unemployed children to take advantage of the Youth Employment Programme. He said kindergarten education would become part of the basic education system next academic year but many basic schools lack classrooms for facilities as well as JSS workshops. Mr. Hackman appealed to district assemblies to include facilities for kindergartens and workshops for JSS when putting up structures for basic schools.