Nkawie (Ash), Sept. 17, GNA - The utilization of the Capitation Grant has been designed to empower Basic Schools to effectively use the financial resources to plan and carry out school quality improvement activities, authorities have reiterated.

Mr Eddy Obeng-Darko, Atwima Nwabiagya District Director of Education, who said this noted that, the Grant was an opportunity to help build school level capacity to effectively implement fiscal decentralization. He was addressing some 160 Head teachers and chairmen of School Management Committees (SMC) at a day's workshop organized by the district education directorate on the effective implementation of the Capitation Grant at Nkawie on Friday.

Topics discussed included Government Policy on the Decentralisation, Monitoring and Evaluation, Records Keeping, Accounting and Preparation of School Performance Improvement Plan. Mr Obeng-Darko said as the representative of the Ghana Education Service council in the communities, SMCs have crucial responsibility in the implementation of government's educational policies at the grassroots.

"SMC chairmen and the Head teachers are therefore jointly responsible for the utilization of the funds towards the attainment of the targets," he said, and charged the participants to ensure the proper accountability of all funds received and utilized in the schools. Mr Baffour Asare-Bediako, an Assistant Director of Education in-charge of Human Resource Management and Development at the directorate, said the grant was designed to remove the financial barrier created by the imposition of levies on pupils and pave way for enrolment and retention of pupils.

He advised them to maintain proper accounts books and provide financial and information required by management to control the effective implementation of the grants.