Kumasi, March 10, GNA - Okusie Akyem Foli V, Nifahene of Avatime traditional area in the Volta Region, has expressed concern about the falling standards of education in the region and called for concerted efforts to check the trend.

He attributed the phenomenon to the lack of interest in education amongst children in the region and appealed to students of Tertiary Institutions, particularly those who hail from the area, to regularly visit home during holidays to help reverse the trend.

This was contained in a release issued by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) branch of the Volta Region Students Association (VORSA) in Kumasi on Wednesday. Members of the association had recently paid a courtesy on Okusie Akyem Foli at Amedzofe in the Volta region.

The visit formed part of a tour of some selected communities and institutions in the region by the association.

Dubbed "Investment tour across Volta 2004", the tour was intended to expose the students to the region's potential in tourism. It was also to sensitise the people on the need to give their children formal education.

The release said 62 students, including three from Gambia, Nigeria and Zambia, visited Fort Prizenstein, the last slave monument as well as the sea Defence project, both at Keta, as well as Afadzato and Gemi mountains.

The VORSA members held discussions with trainee teachers at the St Francis and St Theresa's Training Colleges at Hohoe on the relevance of University education to the teaching profession, it added. The release said similar interactions were also held by members of the association with students of the Amedzofe Teacher Training College and the Sogakope Secondary School.

Mr Christoph Worlanyo Essikpe, President of VORSA gave the assurance that members of the association would organise free vacation classes for children in deprived communities in the region.