Ashanti Region was adjudged the over all best region when the 10th Basic Schools National Festival of Arts competition ended at Koforidua on Wednesday. The Eastern Region came second while Central and Greater Accra regions came third in the one-week event that was attended by over 600 school children and 250 officials from all over the country. Mr. Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, the Director General of the Ghana Education Service, in a speech read for him, observed that despite the role of culture in national development, the subject was relegated to the background. He, however, expressed appreciation that drum language and dance movement, which was regarded as evil and fetish in the colonial past, now featured prominently in the formal worship of Churches. Mr. Bannerman-Mensah appealed to regional and district directors of education and cultural coordinators to organize workshops and seminars to update the knowledge of teachers on culture to enable them to assist school children to appreciate the importance of culture to development. Source: GNA