Likpe Chiefs Promote Education

By Edmund Mingle

The chiefs of the Likpe Traditional Area in the Volta Region have renewed their commitment towards the development of education by outlining a number of support projects for the sector this year.

Among the projects, the Likpe Traditional Council plans to initiate an annual inter school quiz competition and other educational programmes to enhance academic performance in the area.

Nana Soglo-Alloh (left) interacting with the other
chiefs of Likpe after the launching

The increased focus on education by the chiefs followed a recent baseline study of pupils in all Basic and Junior High Schools in numeracy and reading, which revealed the need for improvement in those areas.

Nana Soglo-Alloh IV, Paramount Chief of Likpe Traditional Area, who announced the initiatives for the education sector at the launching of the 2016 Lekoryi Festival of the people of Likpe in the Hohoe municipality, in Accra on Saturday, gave the assurance that efforts were being made to consolidate the gains made from interventions for the sector since 2014.

He was optimistic that the quiz competition would encourage the pupils to learn so as to enhance their academic performance.

He explained that an education endowment fund by his administration was yielding results through the provision of support packages for pupils and students in the area.

Nana Soglo-Alloh indicated that due to the importance they attached to education, the 2012 Lekoryi festival, which had the theme, “Education: back to the basics,” was dedicated towards mobilising resources to improve educational infrastructure in the area.

“This was to signal our attention to redouble our efforts to focus on the importance of education in promoting development in Likpe,” he stressed.

Professor Anthony Aboagye, Chairman of the Lekoryi Committee that serves as the development project implementing body, also explained that after the 2012 festival, part of the resources mobilised from the event was used to undertake the electrical wiring of all basic schools, to pave the way for ICT education.

In addition, he said a quantity of dictionaries, exercise books and other learning materials were donated to the schools with the aim of addressing the shortfalls revealed in the baseline studies on the performance of the pupils.

To secure the input of all stakeholders towards the development of education, he said the Committee and the traditional council have been holding public for a to discuss the outcome of the baseline studies and develop strategic solutions to improve academic performance in the schools.

This year’s festival, which would be climaxed with a grand durbar on March 26, 2016, has the theme, “Onward with sustainable development efforts in Likpe.”

Among target for fund raising at the festival, Prof. Aboagye noted that the resources would be channelled towards improved water supply, renovation of the Likpe Health Centre and “scaling up of our educational programmes with inter-schools quiz competition and other educational programmes.”