The Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Education has held discussions with Directors of the Non-formal Education Division of the Ministry of Education in Accra to find out the problems confronting the Division. Issues discussed included future funding of the Division when the Department for International Development winds up its activities and the role to be played by the Non-Formal Education Division in the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education Programme. The Acting Director of the NFED, Mr.. A. Asare Akuoko said the achievements of the Division included institutional capacity building, a rapid increase inrecruitment of adult learners and trained facilitators and the assistance given to 77 groups which have undertaken income generating activities. He said the Division will decentralise its programmes to encourage the communities to own and manage the literacy programme. It will also increase its support to income generating groups. Some members of the Committee revealed that in some villages, the facilitators and Supervisors do not work and called for random supervision by officials at the head office. Some also called for the enactment of an Act of Parliament to determine the position of the Division in the Ministry of Education. The chairman of the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Education, Mr.. John Kweku Kuma, assured the NFED that the Committee will discuss its problems very seriously. The Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Mr.. Kosi Kedem, stressed the importance of the Division in reducing the high illiteracy rate in the country.

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