The Northern Regional office of the Ghana Library Authority has organised a quiz competition for students of Senior High Schools (SHS) in Tamale to commemorate this year’s World Poetry Day celebration.
Students from the Tamale SHS, Dabokpa Technical SHS, Business SHS, Vitting Technical SHS, Northern Business SHS, Islamic SHS and Tamale Girls’ SHS were the participants.
The event dubbed: ‘The Library Poet, SHS Clash’, was organised on the theme: ‘Elections, My Right, Life and Future’ and supported by Promasidor Ghana Limited, producers and distributors of Yumvita and Twisco beverages.
Students from Business SHS were crowned winners of the competition after impressive delivery on the theme for the event.
Mr Aaron Kuwornu, Northern Regional Director, Ghana Library Authority, speaking during the event, said it was to revive the culture of reading, writing and teaching of poetry in schools.
He said, ‘The theme was carefully selected to use poetry as a tool to encourage students to demonstrate keen interest in
elections by being agents of peace.’
He underscored the importance of reading, saying it enhanced one’s cognitive abilities and promoted analytical thinking, especially among students.
Madam Uraniba Mohammed Mumuni, Events Representative, Marketing Department at Promasidor Ghana Limited, said the partnership with the Ghana Library Authority to organise the event was in line with the company’s commitment toward providing healthier beverages to enhance the holistic growth of children.
She urged the students to prioritise healthy lifestyles by consuming nutritious and healthier diets to ensure they were healthy at all times to learn.
Participants received certificates, books and products from the sponsors.
The World Poetry Day was established in 1999 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognise the power of poetry as a universal art that transcended culture and language.
Source: Ghana News Agency
The Tinderet National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) has released Sh55 million in bursary to learners in various schools and tertiary institutions.
Area Member of Parliament (MP) Julius Melly who issued the cheques at Got Ne Lel Girls Secondary School said out of the figure, beneficiaries in day schools would receive Sh33 million while those in boarding schools would get Sh8.5 million. Learners in colleges and universities will receive Sh6.2 and Sh4.9 respectively.
A total of 70 bright and needy students will receive up to Sh. 53,000 each to cater for all their expenses in school, he added.
Melly said through the Presidential Bursary Scheme, an additional 56 learners would benefit from Sh679,000 to support their education.
He said the support was a commitment from the government and the Constituency leadership to ensure that all children go to school, urging the respective principals to spend the money prudently for the benefit of the learners.
‘The drive to free education has gathered
momentum. There is a lot of effort from the government, Members of Parliament, banks and well-wishers and therefore no child should be left at home,’ he said.
The MP lamented over cases of school drop out in the area which he said stemmed out of parents abdicating their responsibilities.
He said some of the children ended up working in sugarcane plantations as cane cutters killing the dream of boosting education standards in the area.
He asked chiefs and assistant chiefs through their structures to intensify a crackdown in their areas to ensure that the practice is eradicated.
The administrators, he added, must work with other government agencies to mop up all learners and ensure they go to school.
Melly further urged the school heads not to send children home due to lack of school fees but invite their parents to school and come up with a payment structure.
‘The government is struggling with generating revenue. Even the CDF we are releasing today has delayed. Therefore, you must manage the funds to the
best of your ability,’ he said.
He noted that retaining students in school has proven to have a positive impact on results urging teachers to work with the capitation funds allocated to them to sustain learners.
‘Research has shown that sending children home takes away 40% of their performance. This also exposes them to bad company and stigma besides lowering their self-esteem,’ he said.
Mental health, he added, was a big challenge in the Constituency and the country at large.
This, he said has seen five Early Childhood Education (ECD) teachers commit suicide in the area over the last one year.
The issue, he said, was alarming calling on school heads to restore guidance and counselling services.
‘Let us talk to one another. Let us talk to the students because some of them have children back at home and this affects them in one way or the other,’ he said.
Source: Kenya News Agency