Pupils to get free exercise books before December

Page 11
August 19, 2009


THE Ministry of Education says the free exercise books for 5 million schoolchildren will be distributed before the end of the first term of the 2009-2010 academic year.
It said everything would be done to ensure that pupils got the exercise books for academic activities.
“The free exercise books would be ready before the end of the first term of this academic year,” the Head of Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah, told the Daily Graphic.
Throwing more light on the free uniform policy, he said there would be no separate uniforms for pupils of public-mission schools in deprived communities under the free uniform policy.
It said the prescribed school uniform worn by public basic school pupils was what would be distributed to the beneficiary schools.
“All the beneficiary schools, whether mission or not, would get the brown uniform. It is the prescribed uniform majority of the schools use,” he said.
According to him, the ministry or the government for that matter could not provide different uniforms, and that was what was being done to provide the ‘acceptable uniform’. Mission schools spread across the length and breadth of the country have separate uniforms from the government schools.
But Mr Krampah said the prescribed uniform would be distributed before the end of the term.
One million basic school pupils from deprived communities are to also to enjoy the free school uniforms. The uniforms are to be ready for distribution from September, when the 2009/2010 academic year begins.
The provision of the free uniforms was contained in the 2009 Budget Statement delivered by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Dufuor.
The initiative is to benefit pupils from deprived communities, as part of efforts to relieve their parents of a burden and encourage attendance in school.
The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, had said the government, apart from increasing access to school, was committed to the provision of infrastructure, motivation for teachers and improvement of the sector.