The Ministry of Education has formally signed a contract with Printex Ghana Limited for the production of fabrics for the free school uniform programme announced by the Government. This has thus paved the way for the company to begin the production of the materials which will be sewn by local tailors and seamstresses. The Head of the Public relations Unit of the Ministry of Education, Mr Paul Krampah who disclosed this in an interview, noted, “I have seen samples of the fabrics and they are nice.” He said the programme to provide the free uniforms was on course and that beneficiary pupils would get the uniforms before the end of the first term of the 2009/10 academic year. Under the programme, 1.6 million school uniforms would be provided to be distributed to pupils across the country. The provision of the free uniforms was contained in the 2009 budget statement delivered by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor. The initiative is to benefit pupils from deprived communities as part of efforts to relieve the burden on their parents and encourage attendance in school. Mr Krampah said apart from increasing access to school, the government was committed to the provision of infrastructure, motivation for teachers and improvement of the sector. According to him, local tailors and seamstresses would be given the mandate to sew the uniforms for distribution. Mr Krampah said there would be no separate uniforms for pupils of public-mission schools in deprived communities under the free uniform policy. He said the prescribed school uniform worn by public basic school pupils was what would be distributed to the beneficiary pupils. “All the beneficiary schools, whether mission or not, will get the brown uniform. It is the prescribed uniform majority of the schools use,” he said. Mission schools spread across the length and breadth of the country have separate uniforms from government schools. Source: Daily Graphic/Ghana