The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Professor Peter Twumasi has announced plans to introduce incentives to promote education in the Ahafo Ano Southwest District of the Ashanti region.
Among these are cash awards for the best three students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), through the Professor Twumasi Project Centre.
They would receive GHc2,000.00 cash, some books and a certificate each within the next five years.
Also, the best performing male and female teachers would receive a laptop, certificate and GHc1,000.00 every year from the Centre, with the best performing school in the BECE receiving GHc 3,000.00.
Prof Twumasi announced this at Mankranso when he presented mathematical sets to the District Education Directorate to be distributed to all 1,140 candidates writing the 2022 BECE in the District.
He said the initiative, among others, would create competitiveness in the examination and sustains the motivation for the next five years.
As a native of the district, where he started his basic education and benefitted from its resources, Prof Twumasi expressed the belief that giving back to the people was the most appropriate thing to do.
“I have the belief that the talents that we see in the cities are also here and what we lack is the conducive environment to be able to identify and harness them,” he said.
He said the idea behind the establishment of the Project Centre was to work closely with development partners to mobilize resources to improve the lives of the people through quality education.
The implementation of the Free Senior High School Policy, he noted, was a transformative intervention that had significantly enhanced access to education and called on other stakeholders to complement the government’s efforts.
He said much as it was important to provide students with the needed teaching and learning materials, teachers must not be left out of any intervention targeting improved academic performance.
“The management of Professor Twumasi Project Center and I are confident that this gesture will impact positively and significantly on the totality of education, and the BECE performance in particular, in the Ahafo Ano Southwest District.”
He pledged the commitment of the centre to work with relevant stakeholders not only in education but also agribusiness, environment, research, and sports to improve the livelihood of the people.
Mr. Joseph Bonsu Frimpong, the District Chief Executive, commended Prof Twumasi for his commitment to improving education in the district and urged other privileged indigenes to emulate his example.