Accra, May 18, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, Executive Director, Future Leaders Group, has called on government and policy makers in education to include Home Economics in the core subjects at the Senior High School. He explained that the subject offered a broad spectrum of career opportunities both in public and private education, business, social service, journalism and institutional management.

Mr Dei-Tumi made the call at the 2011 World Home Economics Day Forum organised by the Ghana Home Economics Association (GHEA) in Accra on Wednesday. It was on the theme: 93Harnessing the Energies of the Youth into Productive Ventures - The Role of the Home Economist". He said it was important for the country to endeavour to enhance the teaching and learning of Home Economics in Senior High Schools to help the youth to realise their potentials and work hard towards achieving them. Mr Dei-Tumi noted that as various professional fields, legitimised specific knowledge and talents, home economics also carved a place for the student both outside and the domestic sphere. "Home Economics has been misunderstood over the years - do not only refer to homemaking. On the contrary, there are many jobs and careers in this field for both men and women and the potentials of the youth harnessed in this area can be very crucial for national development," he stated. He urged government and policy makers to prioritise the active involvement of the youth at all levels of decision and policy making processes to enable them contribute effectively to national development. Mr Dei-Tumi said the youth could do much for the present generation an= d make a huge difference in this part of the world if their potentials were identified, harnessed and channelled productively. He noted that the youth had enormous potentials that could be harnessed for the economic development of the country, saying 93to do so would require a complete paradigm shift that would usher in a new era of focused and very deliberate and strategic policy initiatives and resource mobilisation to appraise the active training and deployment of the youth for national development." Mrs Veronica Jackson, National President of GHEA, said the day which normally falls on March 21, was for Home Economist worldwide to focus on pertinent issues confronting families and society. She said this year's celebration in Ghana focused on the youth especially Home Economic Students and how best they could appreciate the course they were offering. Mrs Jackson appealed to both students and home economists to implement the knowledge acquired from the forum into skills to benefit individuals, families, and the nation.