Latifa Abdul-Rahman, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) parliamentary candidate for Bolgatanga Central in the Upper East Region has promised to improve the quality of education in the area if elected as the Member of Parliamentary (MP).

The 34-year-old teacher promised to establish libraries across all communities in the constituency and stock them with books and relevant materials for students and pupils to have easy access to learning materials and imbibe in them the culture of reading.

The educationist further promised to provide furniture and other learning materials for all schools across the municipality to ensure that school children had a conducive environment to learn and this would contribute to changing the abysmal performance of children in the area, especially at Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level.

The candidate made the pledge during a parliamentary debate in Bolgatanga organized by the Governance, Justice, and Peace Commission of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference with funding support from the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), a German-based Non-Governmental Organization.

It was facilitated by the Sacred Heart Cathedral Parish of the Catholic Diocese of Navrongo-Bolgatanga in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

Madam Abdul-Rahman faces stiff competition from three other contestants. They are Mr. Isaac Adongo of the National Democratic Congress, incumbent MP, Mr. Rex Asanga of the New Patriotic Party and Mr. Francis Ayadago of the Liberty Party of Ghana. The contenders, however, failed to honour the debate invitation.

Madam Abdul-Rahman explained that education was key to the development of the human resource in the area and therefore if given the chance to represent Bolgatanga Central, she would establish a scholarship scheme to support brilliant but needy students and institute teachers’ awards scheme to motivate teachers to give off their best.

“Most of the teachers do not have accommodation and will have to walk far distances to their various schools to teach. When I am elected MP, I will make sure that all schools have enough accommodation facilities for teachers to stay and this will promote effective teaching and learning,” she assured.

The educationist who is also a gender activist noted that a fund would be established to offer free mental health and breast cancer treatments women while ensuring all community members go enrolled unto the National Health Insurance Scheme.

The CPP candidate further noted that apart from supporting women with seed capital to set up and expand their businesses, she would further support the youth in the constituency to acquire technical and vocational skills to venture into productive establishments.

She, however, reiterated her resolve to peaceful campaign and urged warned her supporters against violence before during and after the election.