An Educational Endowment Fund to cater for the education of students of Takrowase in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern Region has been launched. Launching the Fund, Barima Owusu Nketia, chief of Takrowase, said education was the golden key that opened the doors to the advancement of any society. He said he was determined to ensure that brilliant students whose parents lacked the means to support their educational advancement were taken care of by the Fund. The Takrowasehene decried the low level of education in the town and promised that any student who would aspire would be given every encouragement and support to attain the highest possible level. Professor S K B Asante, an International Consultant, noted that education had never been more important to the future of Ghana's development than it was today. He described education as the very engine of growth, development and the progress of the nation. Prof. Asante, a Council Member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council, said all sectors of national life revolved around education. "Education makes the individuals not only independent and productive, but also, more importantly, relevant to the collective self-reliant and self-sustaining development of their societies". He observed that the ultimate goal of education, particularly in the globalizing world of the 21st century was self-reliance and self-sustaining development both at the national and individual levels. They constituted the two fundamental concepts that should guide at all times "our development efforts and strategies on our tortuous road to middle income economic status". He added that all the fine talk about "positive change" and "golden age of business, which had preoccupied the attention of the President would be mere slogans if it was not geared towards the strategy of self-reliance and self sustaining development. The District Director of Education, Mr Jonathan Akakpo, commended Nana Takrowasehene for his initiative and called on citizens of Takrowase, and friends of the town and well wishers to contribute generously to make the fund to realize its objective. Dr Kofi Asare, Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, asked the youth, especially those of the area to take education seriously. He called on fathers not to leave the burden of children's education on mothers and advised mothers also not to be buying cloth for every funeral at the expense of their children's education. Mr Basil Ahiable, Contracting and Procurement Operations Manager of Shell Oil Company for West and Central Africa, urged the people to unite and not to allow partisan politics to divide them. He advised the youth of Takrowase, a diamond mining town, not to engage in diamond mining at the expense of their education if they were to have a brighter future. An appeal for funds yielded GH¢3,400 (34 million cedis). Source: GNA