Duusi (UE) Feb 9, GNA- Mr John Tia Kolgo, Minister of Information, on Tuesday said the vision of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is to ensure alternative sources of livelihood for the youth who do not progress beyond Junior High School.

Mr Tia Kolgo made these known when he handed over the keys of a 140,000.00 Ghana Cedi vocational Institute which was jointly sponsored by the GETFund and the MP's common Fund. He also donated forty sewing machines and sixty hair dressing accessories to the Talensi Nabdam District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service in Duusi.

The Institute would run courses in block and concreting, carpentry and joinery, plumber work, basic electric work, fashion and design, hairdressin= g and catering.

Giving a brief history of the project, he said the high poverty rate i= n the district and the inability of students to get into Senior High schools (SHS) because of poor results led to high migration from the district. He said students' inability to afford accommodation when they gain admission into educational facilities outside the district, prompted him to envision a vocational programme that could run quickly, easily and guarante= e the youth self employment.

He urged the youth not to take for granted the numerous educational infrastructure and the enabling environment the government had created for learning but rather take their studies seriously. He thanked the chiefs and opinion leaders for making the school projec= t possible by offering land and urged the youth to avoid acts of violence in the institute. Mrs Vivian Anafo, Talensi Nabdam District Chief Executive, asked the youth to consider the project as a blessing taking into cognizance the contribution of artisans to the growth of the economy. Mr Francis Ayaaba, District Director of Education, thanked the Member of Parliament (MP) for his timely intervention saying, it would enable the youth who had talent to unearth them as they train at the vocational Institute.

Giving an update of students' performance for the past four years at the Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE) level, Mr Ayaaba said out of a total number of 4,538 students, only 1,225 made aggregates of between six and thirty to gain admission into SHS. He said over 2,511 students had aggregate thirty and above.

He called for a transformer for the only SHS in the area to boost electricity supply and zonal Information communication Technology Centres (ICT) to encourage children to experience the computer.