Most Reverend Mathew Kwasi Gyamfi, Catholic Bishop of Sunyani Diocese, has cautioned the Catholic youth not to allow themselves to be manipulated by politicians to engage in acts that would affect a peaceful Election 2012.
He urged students to use the knowledge and training acquired to impact positively on their families and society.
Most Rev. Gyamfi was addressing a durbar of staff and students of Notre Dame Senior High School (SHS) at Fiapre near Sunyani to climax their 25th anniversary celebrations.
It was on the theme "Girls Education for National Development: Prospects and Challenge".
He appealed to the students to aspire to greater heights in education by learning hard and have discerning minds in this age of globalisation.
Most Rev. Gyamfi appealed to teachers and school authorities to instil moral and spiritual discipline in their students and impact true knowledge in their lives to become committed citizens.
Mrs Lordina Mahama, First Lady in a speech read on her behalf, said girls' education was a prerequisite for national development as the right to educate women would empower them to contribute and enhance national development.
She said some women had been appointed by government to various positions to serve as role models and stressed that such women did not get there by chance but through hard work and commitment to their chosen fields.
Mrs Mahama told the students that the training that they were going through would position them strategically for the future and advised them to be disciplined, respect their teachers and parents, learn hard, be patriotic and aspire to higher levels.
She asked the students not to waste the opportunity offered to them but become useful to their families and the nation.
The First Lady assured the students of government's commitment to improve school infrastructure and the conditions of service for teachers to attain government's objectives of expanding access and ensuring quality education in the country.
Mrs Mahama called on teachers and school authorities to be more committed to help the students achieve better foundation for their future, with the adoption of appropriate skills and techniques to help manage available resources to improve standard of education in the country.
Dr Mrs Lucy Acheampong, a retired educationist, said women referred to as the weaker sex, were now the bedrock of society and national development.
She said denial of women to education was the greatest violation of human rights, adding that a generation of highly educated women would be able to transform the socio-economic development of the nation.
Dr Acheampong said the role of women in national development should be appreciated because gender equality would not only empower women to overcome poverty but benefit their children and families as well.
She noted that educated women tend to be healthier, participate in formal labour market, earn more income and had few children, provide better health care and educate their children.
Dr Acheampong urged government to increase the number of professional women in positions to serve as role models to girls and pleaded with parents and communities to invest in their girls' education.
Ms Margaret Lucy Donkor, Headmistress of the school, said the authorities would not relent in their efforts to maintain the standards set to improve on girls' education in the country.
She said the school attained 100 per cent in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) last year, and 133 out of the 180 students who sat for the examination qualified for admission into tertiary institutions.
Ms Donkor called on stakeholders to assist the school to construct more classrooms, bungalows for teachers and other infrastructure to enhance teaching and learning.