Ahyiresu (E/R), Nov. 12, GNA - The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has called for the removal of all head teachers whose schools scored zero per cent, at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). He said teachers who could not motivate their colleagues and pupils to give-off their best should not be managers of schools. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo was speaking at the Fifth Akuapem Education Day Celebration and the Forth Best Pupils Award Ceremony, organized by the Akuapem Community Foundation (ACF), a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO), committed to the improvement of standard of education in the Akuapem area at Ahyiresu in the Akuapem South Municipality.

The celebration was under the Theme "Economic Empowerment-Earning a Living from the Natural Environment, Beyond BECE, there is Second Cycle". He observed that education is a shared responsibility, and assured the people of the Government's commitment to honour its contribution towards the development of education in the country, and called on parents, teachers and pupils to play their role. The Municipal Chief Executive of Akuapem South, Dr Godfried Osei Bonsu Twum, suggested that tree planting exercise should be attached to the annual celebration of the day, so that every school child in the Akuapem area is made to plant a tree. He said a major problem facing the Akuapem area was deforestation and expressed the hope that such a programme would help improve upon the ecology of the area.

Dr Twum said the Akuapem South Municipality was faced with illegal sand winning, and appealed to the people in the area to support the Assembly to check the practice.

Osabarima Ansa Sasraku, Mamfihene and a patron of ACF, explained that the Akuapem Education Day Celebration was instituted by the Foundation, to bring together stakeholders in education in the Akuapem area, to brainstorm and find ways of improving the educational standard in the municipality. He said over the years, the presentation of educational materials by the Foundation to schools in the Akuapem area, has helped to raise the standard of education in many communities in Akuapem. Osabarima Sasraku called on Akuapems to be ambassadors of the Foundation and to contribute towards the improvement of education in the area. Reports by the District Directors of Education for Akuapem South and North indicate an improvement in the performance of pupils in the Akuapem area in English, Mathematics and Science, and the reduction of the number of schools that score zero per cent at the BECE. Earlier, a forum was organized for parents to teach them how they could raise extra incomes through sound environmental practices in agriculture, to support the education of their children.