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| Students of Fountain Gate Chapel in the march past |
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| Dignitaries present at the event |
At Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Correspondent Isaac Asare reports that hundreds of people converged at the St. Johns Park to partake and witness Ghana’s 55th Independence Day celebration observed nationwide. This year’s celebration which was marked under the theme: “Sustaining Peace and Democracy for National Unity Development” saw various displays of March past and gymnastics from participating schools and personnel from the security agencies. The colourful and powerful display of foot drills from personnel of the Customs, Immigration, Fire Service, Police and the Prisons service attracted the attention of the dignitaries present as they stood to receive the salute. Among the dignitaries present were Governors from the Central South and East Regions of Burkina Faso and high profile personalities from the Savanna Region of Tome in the Republic of Togo among other functionaries. In all 68 primaries, Junior and Senior High schools drawn from the municipality participated in the celebration. They were backed by the Bolgatanga Technical Cadet Corps, GNAT and NAGRAT Representatives as well as students from the Preparatory School Gymnastics. Each participating school was represented by 30 students including selected teachers and staff. The Regional Director of Education, Mr. Paul Apanga in a message expressed worry about the incessant fallen academic standards in the region and attributed the cause to lack of dedication, determination, courage and conviction on the part of teachers and students. According to him the aftermath of independence through the 60s, 70s and the early 80s, Ghana’s educational system was adjudged one of the best in the world because of the quality of its products. The standard of education in the three regions of the north was even the envy of the south but the same cannot be said of today. Citing the appealing performance of students in last year’s BECE exams, Mr. Apanga however, called on the managers of education, particularly teachers and stakeholders in the educational sector to rise up to the challenge and approach their work with dint of hard work, sacrifice and dedication to improve the unfortunate trend. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo, who inspected the parade acknowledged the current prevailing peace in Bawku and prayed for continuous peace in the area. As a measure to improve the fallen academic standards in the region, Mr. Woyongo expressed government’s determination to restructure and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in schools by providing the necessary resources. He said government will continue to promote teacher development programmes and ensure that requisite resources coupled with continual monitoring and supervision is provided by the GES. Mr. Woyongo moreover, used the occasion to remind participants on the impending voters registration exercise and encouraged all citizens of 18 years and above to register to help them exercise their franchise come December. There were fraternity messages from the governors of Burkina Faso and Togo.
GBC END IA/
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