Mrs. Beatrice Prempeh, the Obuasi Municipal Director of Education, has appealed to proprietors and proprietresses of private basic schools to avail themselves of the highlights of the New Education Reform to enable them keep abreast with the educational development in the country. She said the reform allows for the involvement of the private sector in the promotion of education in the country and that it was important for private schools to know what the reform stood for. Addressing her maiden meeting with proprietors, proprietresses and heads of private basic schools at Obuasi, Mrs. Beatrice Prempeh said the reform enjoined all primary schools to have kindergartens and charged private schools without such facilities to establish them. She explained that the idea was to ensure that children at four years Kindergarten and use two years to fully prepare for primary education. Mrs. Prempeh said the Municipal Directorate of Education would continue to appreciate the contributions of private schools to the development of education in the area, which had placed Obuasi on top regarding the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) nationwide. She said "I thank you very much for the role you have played in positioning us at the top of the BECE for the past three consecutive years." Mrs. Prempeh said that analysis of this year's BECE results had shown that the Municipality recorded 98.2 per cent and that Obuasi could place first again. She advised owners of the private schools to ensure that the interest of the child was paramount in whatever they did. Mrs. Victoria Enimil, president of the Obuasi branch of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools expressed appreciation to government for supporting private schools and appealed to the Municipal Director to ensure the supply of enough textbooks to private schools. Source: GNA