Apam (C/R), Sept 26, GNA – The Gomoa West Non-Formal Education Division (NFED) of the Ghana Education service is to organise classes for children who due to poverty are not enrolled in school.

The classes which are to be used to prepare the children for formal schools are in support of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) which is under threat by the large number of children who are not in school

Mrs Emelia Turkson Ndom, District Co-ordinator of the NFED announced this at a forum at Apam at the weekend.

The forum was held at the chief’s palace after a three-hour clean-up exercise organised by the NFED in collaboration with Zoomlion and Zoil Eco Brigade to keep the town in tune for the Akomase festival of the chiefs and people of Apam to be held this weekend.

Mrs Ndom explained that visits by NFEB staff to the communities showed that a large number of children were not enrolled in schools and the excuse offered by their parents were that they had no money to provide the children with uniforms.

She said initially the children would be made to attend classes in their house dresses or even in cloths until they got the free uniform the government had been supplying to children before they were transferred to the formal schools.

The NFED Co-ordinator said she had organised similar classes at Winneba and that it had worked successfully.

On cleanliness in the town, Mrs Ndom appealed to fishmongers to stop drying anchovy fish, locally known as “Keta school boys” along the road and also to desist from keeping stinking salted fish popularly called “Koobi” at the lorry park awaiting their transportation to market centres, as the stench that they produced, polluted the environment.

Mr Delali Buame, Zoomlion Operation Monitor, appealed to Ghanaians to respect the work of Zoomlion and Eco Brigade workers, saying their work was as important as that of a clerk in the office so they must not be looked down upon.

Ms Ernestina Ekumah, former District Organiser of the 31st December Women’s Movement expressed concern about the manner some people intentionally created filth for Zoomlion and Eco Brigade workers who were helping to prevent the outbreak of epidemic diseases.

Nana Edu Effrim X, Chief of Apam said a sanitation committee would soon be launched in the town to check indiscriminate creation of filth.