Tema, Feb.18, GNA - Parents have been urged to take advantage of the Government's educational support for school children to provide their other needs to ensure continuous education for them.

Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, Deputy Minister of Education and Sports in-charge of Basic and Teacher Education said the capitation grant, provision of free textbooks, free feeding at the basic level as well as the free transportation on public buses were efforts to alleviate the financial burden of parents.

"Parents should therefore; channel their resources that would have gone into these areas to support their children's education to attain higher levels in education," She added.

Mrs Baiden-Amissah, made the call in a speech read on her behalf by Mrs Josephine Kufour-Duah, an Assistant Director of Education at the Ministry, at the launching of Excel Magazine at Tema on Friday. She noted that this academic year, the Government had made a lot of efforts through its policies to ensure quality teaching and learning to ensure children had access to quality education.

Mrs Baiden-Amissah called for the collaborative efforts of teachers to ensure children were provided with the best quality in teaching and learning with the motivation schemes that had been instituted at the communities, districts, regions and the national levels. The Deputy Minister of Education and Sports stressed the need for strict supervision by heads of educational institutions to ensure lifespan of school infrastructure were prolonged for the benefit of future generations.

She commended Mr Daniel Paa Kwesi Appiah, Publisher of Excel Magazine, for his foresight to come out with productive materials for pupils and students and advised them to read it to acquire more knowledge to improve on their performance in school. Mr Appiah explained that reading materials in the magazine had the youth in mind to engage them in productive activity. He noted that the youth often indulged in unproductive activities like watching the television and browsing on the Internet to watch obscene films and engaging in other social vices that affect their upbringing.

Mr Appiah was optimistic that the magazine would help transform the youth to speak better English in addition to educating, entertaining and providing information on topical issues. The 32-page monthly magazine costs 10,000 cedis and the first copy was bought for 100,000 cedis.

Pupils of Hermann Gmeinar SOS School emerged winners in a reading competition organized as part of the launching followed by DEKS Complex and Datus Complex School taking the third position. 18 Feb. 06