She said they should be assisted to appreciate that education was the most effective tool for fighting poverty.   It was the best investment, any parent could make to assure their children of a secured future, she added.

 Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) project, which is being implemented in the district, Madam Achiaa said helping everybody to prioritize education, was the way forward to achieve universal basic education for all.

 The CBE, a five-year project, seeks to provide out-of-school children with literacy, numeracy and life skills to help transition them into formal education system.   It is being implemented in 43 districts in five regions - Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Brong Ahafo and Ashanti.

The project, which commenced in 2013 and is expected to end by September 2018, is being implemented by the government with assistance from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the cost of £23.3 million.

The goal is to create opportunity for disadvantaged children in rural and hard-to-reach communities, especially girls, by equipping them with literacy, numeracy and life skills that would enable them to be enrolled into the formal education system.It is also to help increase gender equality and participation in basic education, improve quality of teaching and learning outcomes in rural communities and strengthen community ownership and management of the CBE learning centres.

Over 200,000 children have been targeted to benefit.

Madam Achiaa said the CBE had helped not only to increase access to basic education in Sekyere Afram Plains, but also improved schools infrastructure and the provision of teaching and learning materials.She underlined the need to sustain the interest of parents and community members to retain children in school.