Vakpo, Sept. 6, GNA - Torgbuiga Gbogbolulu V, Paramount Chief of Vakpo Traditional Area in the Volta Region, has inaugurated a 27-member Board of Directors to manage a 50,000 Ghana Cedis Education Endowment Fund established by the Traditional Council to promote education in the area.

In an inaugural address, Togbega Gbogbolulu expressed concern over the downward trend of education in the Traditional Area. He cited an instance with the recent BECE results in which one of the schools presented 45 candidates, but having only one candidate passing with aggregate 24. "The Traditional Council decided to take some pragmatic steps to drastically reduce or halt this unpleasant development altogether," he said.

Togbega said the Council went into a commercial farming venture and raised an initial capital of 10,000 Ghana Cedis as seed money for the Endowment Fund dubbed "VATRACEEF". He said the two main objectives of the fund were to help brilliant but needy students with scholarship schemes and also to support any needy person in the Traditional Area who may wish to acquire employable skills. Togbega said so far, one student is benefiting from the fund at the Vakpo Senior High School and expressed the hope that with the successful inauguration of the Board, other deserving students would be awarded scholarships. He disclosed that the seed money for the Endowment Fund was invested and that the dividends would be used for the scholarships so as to sustain the Fund. "We hope that the beneficiaries would grow and also contribute to sustain the Fund," he said. Togbega Gbogbolulu said the Traditional Council aims to extend the benefits of the Endowment Fund to its immediate neighbours such as Tsoxor, Botoku, Tsrukpe, Wusuta, Anfoega and even beyond. Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister who was the special guest of honour at the function, commended the chiefs and people for setting up the Endowment Fund which he said would create more opportunities for their children to get access to higher education. "This also means Vakpo will have the opportunity and the financial resources to produce more educated citizens to effectively contribute not only to the development of Vakpo but the whole country, he said.

He said government would support Chiefs and Queenmothers who he referred to as custodians of the land and heritage, to enable them to play a leading role in the formulation and implementation of appropriate development plans for the traditional areas. The Minister said peace and unity were very necessary for sustained community development and called on the people of Vakpo to take advantage of the prevailing unity in the Traditional Area to promote sustainable development. Mr Amenowode appealed to parents to eschew the habit of buying funeral cloths at the expense of their wards school fees, saying the habit which was fast gaining root in the area, was detrimental to the future of the nation. He also called on traditional and opinion leaders to formulate rules in their communities to prevent children from watching videos and attending wake keepings instead of being with their books. Mr.Kofi Agbo, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, thanked the traditional council for the bold initiative and promised that the Board would live up to expectation. A fund-raising at the inaugural durbar raked in an additional 10,000 Ghana Cedis, bringing the total amount in the Fund account to 20,000 Ghana Cedis. 06 Sept. 10

Picture Caption: Pic 1 shows Togbega Gbogbolulu V, (middle) in a group photograph with some of the Board members.