The Assistant Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Ghana, Dr. Elsaid Yeboah, has urged Moslem parents to attach great importance to the education of their children, especially the girls.

He expressed worry that some Moslem parents were encouraging their children, especially their daughters to go into early marriages at the expense of their education.

Dr Yeboah said "such practices are past and gone and we should no more encourage and tolerate them."

He was addressing Moslems at the inauguration of a GHC60,000 (600 million cedis) mosque built at Kranka in the Nkoranza District of Brong-Ahafo with assistance from the Islamic Council for Humanitarian Services and Development, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Dr. Yeboah, a citizen of Kranka, commended the NGO for assisting Moslems in the town to build the mosque, which would accommodate more than 1,500 worshipers.

He later launched an education endowment fund, dubbed "Kranka Islamic Educational Trust fund," to assist brilliant but needy students in the area to further their education to the senior high school level.

Dr. Yeboah explained that the fund was not meant for only Islamic children but the entire students in the area.

He paid special tribute to the late Alhaji Tahir, founding father of Islam at Kranka.

Mrs. Fati Saaka, Nkoranza District Deputy Coordinating Director, called on Moslems to live in unity and peace to enhance the growth of Islam.

She said Islam was a peaceful religion and that should reflect in the lifestyles of those who professed it and advised the youth to be disciplined.

Mrs. Saaka urged Moslem parents, especially the women to invest in the education of their children instead of spending lavishly.

She donated GHC 100 (1 million cedis) on behalf of the District Assembly to support the fund.

Malam Baba Ahmed, representative of the Islamic Council Aid, said "any Moslem who would not promote unity, peace and understanding should not count him or her self as a true Moslem."

Nana Ofori Amisare Okofo VIII, Akwamuhene of the Nkoranza Traditional Area, called for tolerance among all religious bodies in the area to promote peace and understanding needed for development.

Source: GNA