Wa, Nov. 17, GNA - The government would soon complete the handing over of all mission schools back to their units to enhance effective and efficient management and supervision, Mr. Fabian Belieb, Upper West Regional Director of Education, has said.

He said after the handing over, local managers of the units would be responsible for maintaining and managing the affairs of the schools to ensure discipline and academic excellence. Mr Belieb, who spoke at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Catholic Education Unit of the Wa Diocese of the Catholic Church, said the handing over process had already begun in some parts of the country. He said the government would still be responsible for the payment of teachers' salaries in such mission schools.

Explaining the reason behind the handing over of the schools, Mr Belieb said indiscipline and immoral tendencies were gradually creeping into the schools to the detriment of religious principles for which the schools were established.

He said Religious and Moral Education, which was eliminated from the education curricular a few years ago, would be reintroduced and Basic Education Certificate Examination candidates would be required to write it during their final examinations. Mr Belieb urged the Local Managers of the Units to ensure effective supervision that would bring back the discipline and moral uprightness that mission schools were known for. Mr. Cosmos Yeleduor, the Regional Manager of the Wa Catholic Education Unit, said since the coming into being of the Unit in 1960 in the region, it had established 79 kindergartens, 135 primary schools, 96 junior high schools, six senior high schools, seven technical/vocational institutions and one special school.

He said there are 327 pre-tertiary institutions with a total of 84,648 pupils and students while the number of teachers operating in the schools was 2,630. Mr Belieb said Catholic schools were among the best schools in the Upper West Region.