Daboase, (W/R) March 7, GNA - About 20 Primary, Junior High and Senior High Schools participated in a parade to mark the 53rd Independence Anniversary, under the theme, "Investing in the Youth for a Better Ghana," at Daboase, in the Mpohor Wassa East District. The schools included the Daboase District Assembly (D/A) Primary and JHS, Kakokrom D/A, Ahmadiyya Primary and JHS, Subri Industrial Plantation Limited (SIPL) Primary and JHS, Mpohor SHS and Daboase SHS. Addressing the parade, Mr Anthony Bassaw, the District Chief Executive, who took the salute, said the Ghanaians must unite and work towards making the nation a better place for the present and future generations, adding, "As we are all aware, the future of our nation lies in the hands of our youth."

He said it had become very important to promote and develop youth activities while creating opportunities in various fields for the teeming young men and women in the district. Mr Bassaw said he strongly believed that when the youth were provided with opportunities, they would serve as powerful agents of development in the district in particular, and the nation at large. He said the current policies and programmes for the youth had demonstrated the government's commitment towards investing in the youth and in the area of Education, the government had fulfilled its promise of providing free exercise books and school uniforms for pupils in deprived areas of the district.

Mr Bassaw said the district was allocated 154,000 copies of exercise books for distribution to primary and JHS and it received 132,951 copies of the books last month.

He said the District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) had drawn up programmes for the distribution of the books to beneficiary schools this month in addition to 500 pieces of school uniforms. Mr Bassaw said 1,500 youth had registered with the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in the district and it is expected that about 700 of them would be selected to benefit from the Teaching, Nursing and Tree Planting modules of the programme.

He said 15 youth were also selected for recruitment into the Prisons, Fire and Police Services while 68 were employed under the Sanitation (Zoomlion) component of the NYEP. Thirty were selected for dressmaking, 10 for ICT and two for photography. Mr Bassaw warned those engaged in Galamsey activities that the law would deal with them when they are caught and community members who accommodate and provide assistance to these operators would also be made to face the law. He said, "We should, therefore, be advised to learn to protect and not destroy the environment, especially our water bodies. Mr Bassaw said the District Assembly would continue to support critical sectors such as Education, Health, and Agriculture through the provision of basic infrastructure and logistics as a way of improving the livelihoods of the people and promoting the better Ghana Agenda. 07 March 10