Asokore (Ash), April 22, GNA - Maulvi Wahab Adam, the Ameer and Missionary in-charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, on Saturday expressed happiness that secular education was gaining grounds in Muslim communities.

He said the Mission has set an example and must be continued to get more children in school to eliminate illiteracy, ignorance, disease and squalor among Muslims and also raise the image of Islam. Maulvi Adam was opening the second annual conference of Heads and Managers of Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Institutions in Ghana at Asokore near Effiduase in the Sekyere East District. The four-day conference is under the theme, "Eighty-one Years of Ahmadiyya Muslim Education in Ghana, Achievements, Challenges and the Way Forward".

The Ameer paid tribute to the pioneers who sacrificed their lives to start the mission's contributions to the development of education in the country and urged the heads and managers of educational institutions to work harder to open the horizon for those who did not understand the education concept.

"We are not only interested in academic qualification but also academic excellence so that those who graduate from our institutions must be equipped with academic and moral qualifications to enhance the purpose we want for the country".

Mr Dimbie Jibrin Moomen, acting General Manager of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Unit, appealed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) for vehicles for their managers to facilitate the monitoring of teaching and learning in their schools.

He said the Mission has established 86 kindergarten schools, 126 primary schools, 52 junior secondary schools, seven senior secondary schools and one teacher training college throughout the country. Mr I.K. Gyasi, former Headmaster of T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School in Kumasi, who was the guest speaker, urged Muslims from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh to visit the place at Asawasi where the early missionary to Ashanti stayed to see the sacrifices they made to establish the mission.

He noted that the Mission was working under impossible conditions and therefore called for assistance from the government to enable it to contribute to the country's socio-economic development. 21 April 06