Ekumfi Ekrawfo (C/R), April 28, GNA - The Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ms Naana Biney, on Wednesday, commended the Ahmadiyya Education Unit for the 93significant contribution" it had made towards the development of the human resource base of the country.

She paid glowing tribute to the mission's founding fathers for their vision, and advised the present generation of managers and heads of the Unit not to remain 93armed chair managers and heads". Ms Biney urged them to 93monitor all activities in your schools, move out to the headquarters of the GES, the Ministry of Education, the Missions and their District Assemblies to solicit assistance for your schools."

Currently the Mission has a total of 295 schools, made up of 102 kindergartens, 128 primary, 57 Junior High and seven Senior High schools, as well as a College of Education nationwide, with over 60,000 pupils and students.

This was contained in a speech, read on her behalf, at the opening of the sixth annual Conference/ Workshop of Heads and Managers of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Institutions in the country, at Ekrawfo, in the Mfantsiman Municipality.

Ms. Biney urged the participants to adopt leadership styles, which would encourage staff and student participation in decision making and governance.

It was on the theme 93ensuring the capacity for survival of Ahmadiyya Muslim Institutions, the task for heads of Institutions". "The onus is on you as heads and managers to work hard to ensure the survival and growth of the mission's schools", she said, adding that, they should avail themselves of the opportunities being offered by the GES and the Ahmadiyya Mission to upgrade themselves to meet the modern day challenges of the education sector.

She urged the heads to be 93firm and fair in promoting discipline, be conversant with and apply GES policies, implement approved financial administration procedures, prepare staff development plan, draw infrastructural development plan and reward hard work". Ms. Biney asked them to run their schools as business enterprises, managing them strategically to grow rapidly and gain competitive advantage over others, and pledged the GES' support to ensure that academic excellence was achieved and maintained in all its schools.

The General Manager of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Education Unit, Mr Jibrin M. Dimbie said the objective of the mission in establishing schools was to ensure character training and the achievement of academic excellence.

He said there has been significant improvement in the provision of infrastructure in its schools but more needed to be done because most of the schools are situated in the rural areas. He said the citing of most of its schools in the rural areas was to offer opportunities to deprived communities to have access to education and to have permanent modern classrooms.

Mr Dimbie said he was not happy that regional managers of the Unit lack vehicles to facilitate their monitoring roles and appealed to the Ministry to go to their aid, to enable the managers to carry out effective supervision, which he said, was the 93fulcrum of academic excellence".

He also described as 93woefully inadequate, the amount of GHC30.00, given to Regional Managers to run their offices and appealed to the Mission as well as the government to intervene and have it increased.

Mr Dimbie pledged the commitment of the Unit to work hard to achieve its vision, despite the numerous challenges it faces, adding that, more schools will be established to make education accessible to all.