Agona Swedru, April 15, GNA- The Agona West Municipal Assembly in collaboration with the Education Directorate has banned churches and other groups from using classrooms as worship centres in the municipality.
The move is to protect classroom furniture from damage done by the members, putting a burden on the Assembly to spend additional money to repair them.
Mr Evans Onomah Coleman, Agona West Municipal Chief Executive made this known when he presented 245 pieces of furniture to 29 selected schools at the premises of the Assembly at Swedru.
The items were made up of teachers’ tables, single chairs, dual chairs, library chairs, bookshelves, drawers, cabinets, visitors’ chairs, and notice boards.
The furniture was handed over by the Ghana Education Trust Fund GETFUND to the Assembly to be distributed to the selected schools to enhance quality teaching and learning in the Municipality.
Mr Coleman said the Assembly and the Ghana Education Service were not trying to subvert the preaching of the Word of God or worshipping God but protecting government property.
According to the MCE, the Government under the leadership of President Akufo Addo had prioritized the educational sector to become one of the best to promote human resource development in the country.
He said the introduction of the free Senior High School, one of the pro-poor policies was aimed at breaking the barrier between the poor and rich to gain the same access to secondary education.
The MCE said the Government would continue to pursue good policies and invest in programmes for quality education in the county.
Mr Coleman called on state institutions to address the challenge of the culture of maintenance and cautioned the beneficiary school heads to ensure the furniture was well maintained.
Mr Ishmael Nana Ogyefo, Agona West Municipal Coordinating Director, said the Assembly was determined to ensure schools in the Municipality were well equipped to assist teachers to give off their best to enable the Municipality to achieve quality results.
He said the Assembly made an adequate budgetary allocation in the 2022 budget to provide educational materials to promote quality education.
Mr Bismark Ofei, Agona West Director of Education, who received the furniture on behalf of GES thanked the Assembly for the gesture and reiterated calls for churches to refrain from using the classrooms for their activities, adding that the GES’ ban during the COVID-19 pandemic was still in force.
The Director of Education said the furniture deficit at the lower and upper primary levels was about 1,600 so the presentation was timely and assured the MCE that the directorate would distribute the items equitably to the selected schools in the municipality.
The Director of Education cautioned beneficiary schools to take diligent care of the furniture to prolong their life span.
GNA