DEVOTE GREATER TIME TO CHILDREN — PREZ (SPREAD, JULY 19, 2010)

THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has implored parents and teachers to devote greater time and effort to ensure the sound character training of children, especially at the basic and secondary levels of education.
According to him, parents and teachers were duty bound to spend more time in inculcating good traditional norms and spiritual values in children to transform them into responsible and productive citizens for the country's future development.
President Mills was addressing a durbar to climax the centenary celebrations of Adisadel College in Cape Coast at the weekend.
The durbar attracted dignitaries, ranging from high-ranking members of the Anglican Church of Ghana, the Legislature, Ministers of State and old boys of the college.
The President said the impression was being created that parents were spending more time on their vocations, at the expense of the development of the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of their children.
He explained that much as he was not against parents working hard to mobilise enough resources to offer quality education to their children, care should be taken to ensure that the character training of children was not sacrificed for anything else.
President Mills explained that parents and teachers should draw a careful balance between their vocations and the moulding of children's character so that children would not be disadvantaged.
He said the nation needed men and women of impeccable integrity to facilitate its future development, for which reason parents and teachers were obliged to help groom children who would allow good virtues and values to influence their talents.
The President said virtues and values such as hard work, selflessness, respect for authority, humility and generosity should be inculcated in children so that they would not depart from them when they grew into adults and found themselves in responsible positions, especially in the various arms of government.
He advised children to steer away from social and moral vices which could threaten their development and ruin their lives for good.
"Dear students, your future depends on what you make of the opportunity you have today to build a solid educational foundation. Your ability to break new grounds and open the doors of success will depend on the extent to which you take advantage of the quality education that Adisadel College has for you," President Mills said.
He appealed to the students to strive for excellence, stressing, "As a teacher, whenever I speak to students I do so with great hope, knowing that it is you who will move Ghana onto higher pedestals."
He reiterated the government's commitment to open up more educational opportunities, especially to the vulnerable and disadvantaged across the country.
"We will continue to open up more opportunities, shape syllabuses to meet the exigencies of the time and create a more conducive teaching and learning environment," he said.
President Mills told the gathering that the government was vigorously expanding infrastructure in all schools in order to manage the current infrastructure inadequacies and appealed to the private sector to complement its efforts in that direction.