DISTANCE LEARNING MATERIALS DONATED TO ANKAFUL PRISON (PAGE 39)

Story: Joe Okyere, ankaful

THE Co-ordinator of the President’s Special Initiative on Distance Learning (PSI-DL), Madam Abena Agyakoma Kwarteng, has presented Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) materials worth GH 2,200 to the Ankaful Main Camp Prison towards the programme.
The occasion coincided with the inauguration of the programme and a two-day workshop for study centre tutors and co-ordinators at the camp.
Making the presentation, Madam Kwarteng said the PSI-DL was extended to the prison because they found it to be a ready-made centre for distance learning world-wide.
Inmates of the Ankaful Prison will study block-laying and concreting.
Madam Kwarteng said the other prisons selected under the project were Tamale, Wa and Kumasi.
The Nsawam Medium Security Prisons and the James Fort Prison have already benefited from the scheme under the pilot phase.
The co-ordinator said the government was providing financial support for tools, equipment and consumables, in addition to television sets, DVD players and learning materials according to the number of learners.
She advised the inmates to take advantage of the programme to add value to themselves in order to lead decent lives after serving their sentences.
The Regional Commander of the Ankaful Prison, Deputy Director of Prisons Oppong Kofi Tweneboa-Kodua, described the programme as a welcome respite for the Ghana Prison Service, since it would boost the role of the service to provide vocational and technical education, which serves as a spring board for the effective reformation of inmates.
He, however, appealed to the government to consider repealing the laws that banned the employment of ex-convicts in the public sector in order to realise the potential and full benefits of such a laudable project.
The regional commander said if ex-prisoners were properly rehabilitated and fully reintegrated into the society, it would reduce the likelihood of them trying to get back to prison. a