Regional News of Friday, 6 February 2004

Source: GNA

SMCs and PTAs advised to desist from power struggle

Nkawie (Ash), Feb 6, GNA- Mr Adomako Agyemang, the new chairman of Atwima District Conference of School Management Committees (COSMEC), has advised SMCs and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to desist from conflicts and power struggle, which he said were destructive to education delivery.

SMCs and PTAs, he said, should rather complement the efforts of the government and district assemblies by assisting basic school authorities to draw up and plan comprehensive school guidelines and policies suitable for education delivery.

Mr Agyemang, who is also the chairman of Toase SMCs, gave the advice after his election as chairman of the newly formed COSMEC at Nkawie on Thursday.

The conference sought to forge closer collaboration with school communities to identify school problems and exchange ideas and experiences to address them.

Mr Agyemang reminded the SMCs about the limitation of their powers and cautioned them against usurping the authority of school heads. Mr Richard Owusu-Agyemang, the Community Participatory Co-ordinator for Atwima District, also cautioned the SMCs against fomenting chieftaincy disputes and engaging in partisan politics.

"You should mainly focus on the effective mobilisation and harnessing of every available resources in your communities to promote, develop and improve upon education delivery", he said.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang advised the SMCs to forge closer linkage with the District Education Oversight Committee (DEOC) and other organisations and institutions to enable them to achieve their set goals and objectives.