Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) in the Volta Region are demanding an extension of the ongoing Ghana Card registration exercise for children aged between 6 and 14 years, saying many schools across the region have still not been covered as the exercise ends.

The MMDCEs are therefore calling on the National Identification Authority (NIA) to extend the exercise to allow more pupils across the region to be registered.

Speaking on behalf of the MMDCEs, the Dean of the group, Mr Jerry Ameko, said the exercise started on May 5 and was expected to run for 21 days with registration teams moving from school to school.

However, he said many schools in the region were still left uncovered as the exercise officially came to an end.

He explained that the registration programme was designed to ensure that children within the target age bracket obtain national identification cards early, but operational difficulties affected implementation.

According to him, several school communities are disappointed because registration teams could not reach them before the deadline.

He warned that the situation could create feelings of exclusion among communities whose children were unable to participate in the exercise.

“How do we explain to people who have not been able to benefit from this registration?” he asked.

Mr Ameko said the inability to complete coverage in districts with relatively fewer schools clearly demonstrates the need for additional time.

He cited Adaklu District as an example, noting that registration officials failed to cover all schools despite the district having only about 48 schools.

“We have not even been able to cover 40 schools in Adaklu, and there are other districts with far more schools,” he stated.

He stressed that if the exercise is not extended, many eligible children in larger districts and municipalities would completely miss out on the opportunity to register.

The Dean identified poor network connectivity as one of the major challenges that slowed down the registration process in many communities.

He added that bad weather conditions also disrupted operations at some centres, affecting communication systems and delaying registration activities.

The dean further explained that occasional disagreements and crowd management issues at registration centres also consumed valuable time that could have been used to register more children.

He said the combination of these setbacks made it impossible for officials to achieve the expected targets within the allocated period.

According to him, the exercise can only achieve its intended purpose if all eligible children are given equal access to registration.

He therefore appealed to the NIA leadership to consider extending the programme in the Volta Region to complete the remaining registrations.

The District Chief Executive for Central Tongu, Addison Dodzi Mornyuie, also described the extension request as necessary and reasonable.

He explained that the exercise mainly targets school children who may not have the means to travel long distances to district capitals for registration.

“We are talking about children and students here. Someone travelling from the far corner of a district to the district capital will find it difficult,” he said.

Mr Mornyuie noted that the mobile registration teams visiting schools remain the most effective way to capture children in rural communities.

He said discontinuing the exercise without covering all schools would deny many children access to a national identification card.

The Central Tongu DCE, therefore, appealed to the NIA to keep the mobile vans operating in the region until all schools are covered.

He maintained that extending the registration period would help fulfil the objective of the programme and ensure that no eligible child is left behind in the Volta Region.