The Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, on Friday called on parents not to use the Capitation Grant and New Education reforms as an excuse to shirk their parental responsibilities towards the education of their children.
He said the government was doing everything to provide the necessary infrastructure that would help all Ghanaian children to acquire, at least basic education and asked parents to reciprocate the gesture by providing their children with their other needs that would enable them to stay in school.
Nana Arthur made the call when he joined the chiefs and people of Ankwanda, near Elmina to celebrate their annual "Nyeyi festival".
He urged parents to embrace the new education reforms with all seriousness, stressing that the new education reform would be a mirage if parent failed to send their children to school.
The festival is celebrated in the first Thursday in November in honour and remembrance of their ancestors and also to raise funds for development projects in the town.
The Regional Minister expressed concern about the poor results in the last BECE in most junior high schools in the region and called on parents to ensure they cater for the needs of their children and stop them from attending funerals and movies in the night.
He urged them to take advantage of the capitation grant and the school feeding programme and send all their children of school-going age to school and urged teachers to be committed to their job to ensure the success of the new education reforms.
On development projects, Nana Arthur said work would soon begin on the three-kilometre Ataabadze Junction to Ankwanda road which had been awarded on contract at a cost five billion cedis.
He said the perennial water problem that was facing Ankwanda and its surrounding areas would soon be a thing of the past after the completion of
the new water treatment plant at Sekyere-Hemang.
Nana Arthur urged them to use the celebration of the festival to settle their differences and forge ahead in the development of the area, stressing that no area can see any meaningful development if there was no peace, unity and stability.
Mr Francis Awortwe a retired educationist, commended the unit committee members in the area for the effective work they were doing which, he stressed has enhanced the development of the area.
He also thanked the government for providing the area with social amenities such as schools, electricity and roads and appealed to the contractor working on the Ataabadze junction to Ankwanda road to speed up work.
He also appealed for teachers' quarters to accommodate teachers in the town to enhance teaching and learning.