Mr Sulemana Bukari, Bawku Municipal Non-Formal Education Coordinator, has said his outfit is putting measures in place to revamp the prison education sector that had been dormant for some time. According to him, the inmates needed to be trained to acquire skills that would help them make a living outside prison. Mr Bukari noted that among the skills that would be taught are reading, writing, innumeracy and the introduction of developmental activities such as tree planting. He told the GNA in an interview that income generating activities undertaken by inmates had been able to support the programme. These include shea butter extraction, malt preparation, rice processing, dressmaking and agro-processing methods. Mr Bukari said the Non-Formal Education Unit had trained some facilitators to run the programme and appealed to development partners to support the programme with resources. They said the outfit had undertaken tree planting in communities such as Bazua, Binduri, Zubugu, Wiidii-Zuugu, and Pusiga-Mandago in the Bawku Municipality and its environs. Mr Edward Menu, Assistant Director of Prisons in charge of the Bawku Prisons, said the programme dubbed "functional literacy" is training 19 students but it is being hindered by lack of logistics. He stated that learning materials such as exercise books, writing boards and chalk, pencils and incentives to motivate the facilitators were not adequate enough to run the programme efficiently. Mr Menu revealed that aside the education aspect of the programme; it was also meant to occupy the inmates during their leisure time so they do not fill their minds with negative intentions such as breaking of jail. He said the Prison unit used to be assisted by the Municipal Assembly to train the inmates in smock making but due to the protracted chieftaincy conflict in the area the programme had come to a standstill. The Senior Chief Officer in charge of Prisons administration in Bawku, Mr Henry Oduro Abrorwah, said the literacy programme was a laudable one that could increase the level of thinking of prisoners, but due to lack of facilities, the programme might not run for long. He said 65 percent of the inmates were on and might not be in prison for long. He appealed to development partners to help provide recreational facilities in the prison to promote quality social relations among the inmates. Source: GNA