The Ministry of Education, Science and Sports is putting up an office for the Ashanti Regional Education office at the cost of GH¢380,000 under its Education Sector Project (ESP). Mrs Belinda Serwaa Addo, Ashanti Regional Director of Education who said this at the review meeting of the Directorate in Kumasi on Monday, said the ministry was also rehabilitating the old three-storey building of the Regional Education Directorate. It is building drivers’ quarters, gate house and other external works at the cost of 285,530 Ghana Cedis and the projects are under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) project. She said out of the 11 candidates presented to contest for awards at the 2007 National Best Teacher Awards at Tamale, nine received awards. The region, she said, placed first in the second-cycle science, vocational/technical, training college and special education categories and also came second in the primary, second-cycle general, Junior High School and Information Communication Technology (ICT) categories and emerged third in the French language. The region emerged the 2007 overall champions in the inter-regional sports festival held in Koforidua and also came first in girls’ hockey and athletics, soccer and boys’ cross country. She said at the 10th Basic Schools National Festival of Arts and Culture held in Koforidua, the region emerged first and placed third in the second cycle schools National Festival of Arts and Culture held in Sunyani. Mrs Addo said 12 District Education directorates in the region received a new Nissan pick-up vehicle each while the regional directorate had two vehicles. She said 64,595 candidates who sat for the 2007 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) as against 57,613 candidates in 2006. She commended teachers and other stakeholders in education for their immense contribution towards the improvement of education standard in the region. Source: GNA