The Chairman of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, Agyewodin (Professor) Adu-Gyamfi Ampem, has expressed concern about the attitude of some GES staff whom he said "regard the service as residual and do not invariably give of their best". Indeed these people have entered the service as a result of their inability to find something they consider as ''better'', he said at the maiden durbar of the GES Council at Sunyani. It was on the theme: 'Achievements and challenges of education delivery in Brong-Ahafo Region: The way forward'. Agyewodin Ampem, who is the Omanhene of the Acherensua traditional area, said "the meeting which for the first time had been held outside Accra, is to bring the council to the doorsteps of all stakeholders of education at all levels". He told the gathering that pre-tertiary education was the cradle of all human pursuits and should be given a pride of place and financial support in the national scheme of things. He bemoaned the poor education infrastructure in the schools, describing them as 'ramshackle structures'. Agyewodin Ampem noted that Ghana at the time of her independence has a population of five million with not more than 50 secondary schools, indicating a ratio of 1:100,000. "However, in 2009, there are about 496 public senior high schools for an estimated population of 22 million, with a ratio of about I :46,000, with resultant problem of lack of facilities," he stressed. The Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, announced that the government had voted GH¢20.2 million for the provision of extra infrastructure facilities for the educational sector in the region. He explained that it was part of the government's agenda to invest in its citizens for a better Ghana. Mr Nyamekye-Marfo said as part of the requirement for the senior high schools to enroll first year students next academic year, the government would build new classroom blocks for 19 schools in the region before September. He expressed concern about the lack of trained teachers in the region, saying "only 58 per cent of teachers have professional training". This, Mr. Nyamekye-Marfo said, was affecting educational standards and, therefore, urged district and municipal assemblies to sponsor students to training colleges to help eke the figure. "However, in doing so, priority should be given to female students," he directed. The Regional Director of Education, Reverend Samuel Afenyi Amankwa, said an estimated 117,837 school going children in the area were not attending school, thus making the achievement of the United Nations Organisation's Millennium Development Goal of "Education for All by 2015", a mirage. He noted that most of these children found outside the classroom live in rural and deprived communities in the region. He disclosed that the current enrolment of pupils at the basic education level in the region was 587,685. Rev. Amankwa said the Tano South District scored 88.9 per cent in the 2009 BECE while the Sene District obtained 17.3 per cent. He noted that within the past 24 years, educational institutions in the region had seen 20 per cent increase in infrastructure. According to Rev. Amankwa in 1986, the region had 1,190 primary schools, 666 middle/junior high schools, 23 senior high schools, three teacher training colleges, one technical school and a forestry school. Currently, the region has 1,556 primary schools, 863 junior high schools and 55 senior high schools, one polytechnic, one technical and vocational technical school, one private university and three university campuses. Reverend Amankwa said his office was improving supervision and monitoring in schools, and building the capacity of teachers as a way of improving education standards. Source: The Ghanaian Times