Accra, Dec 10, GNA - The Nights and Ladies of Marshall, a society within the Catholic Church, has commended President John Agyekum Kufuor for the prompt action he took on the Catholic Bishops' Conference objection to the deletion of the teaching of Religious and Moral Education in basic schools.

"With this timely intervention by the President, he has proved himself to be not only a listening Chief Executive but also a First Citizen who has the future of his nation very much at heart," Sir Knight Eddie Aloysius Prah, the Supreme Night, said.

Addressing a news conference in Accra, he said ordinarily, the President's directive to the Ghana Education Service (GES) should rest the matter but the Noble Order believed it should not only add its voice to the Bishops but also urge the GES to heed the President's directive and take steps to rectify matters.

Sir Knight Prah said the dominant role of the school in the formation of children could not be over emphasized and to deprive them of religious and moral education and rather give them a packaged programme which is an appendage to other subjects was incorrect. "While conceding that it is true many nations do not teach religion and morals in their schools but are yet among the world's most developed countries, the question we all need to ask is have we reckoned the social cost to these societies?"

"What can those who are holding such countries to us as models say about the frequent gunning down of innocent school children at times by their own teenage mates?"

Sir Knight Prah said the example of other countries being thrown about by the GES was most untenable and that "we would rather want a situation where we would showcase our way of life resulting from the teaching of religious and moral studies so that these other societies would emulate us."

He said they the Marshallans demanded a better tomorrow for children and for Ghana and it was for this reason that they are appealing to the government to heed the call by the Bishops to bring back the teaching of religious and moral education.

Sir Night Prah said they were heartened by the support given by the Christian Council, other Christian bodies and individuals as well as some Islamic bodies and urged them to take similar bold steps by directing all their schools to continue to teach their children their religion.

On the issue of the supervision and appointments of heads of Catholic schools, he said it would be most improper to by pass the church in appointments to and running of schools built by the Church. "We call on the government to listen to our Bishops and correct the anomaly created."