The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey on Monday, 5th February 2018 launched the Back-to-School campaign. The event took place on the Ministry’s premises.
The ‘Back-to-School’ Campaign is an initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, as part of its social responsibility, under the theme, ‘Foreign Policy Mirrors Domestic Policy’. The campaign is aimed at complementing government’s effort to improve the quality of education and assist under-privileged students in the rural areas of the country.
Dignitaries present at the event included the Deputy Ministers, Hon. Habibu Tijani and Hon. Charles Owiredu, the Chief Director, H.E. Albert Yankey, Minister for Education, the President’s Special Advisor on SDGs, Mr. Eugene Owusu and Members of the Diplomatic Corps. Also present were beneficiary schools, which included Odorgonno Senior High School, Abeka Motorway School, Saint Justin Anglican School and Anyaa M/A Basic School all in Greater Accra and Kibi School for the Deaf in the Eastern Region.
The AG. Chief Director, Ambassador Yankey gave the opening remarks for the occasion, where he welcomed and acknowledged the dignitaries and invited guests. He encouraged the youth to be more focused on education, owing to their status as future leaders of the country.
Some goodwill messages came from some dignitaries such as the Indian High Commissioner, H.E. Birender Singh Yadav, the Special Advisor to the President on SDGs, Mr. Eugene Owusu, the Director of Sales at Roberts and Sons and Ga Central Municipal Director of Education, Ms. Denise Welbeck, to grace the occasion.
Speaking at the launch, the Hon. Minister stated that education had a correlation with socio-economic development, and therefore required maximum attention. She indicated that the campaign was to cushion students, whose parents were unable to provide their basic needs for school and ensure that under-privileged students were given support to further their education.
Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey added that the campaign shows Ghana’s genuine commitment to meet the Sustainable Development Goal four (SDG4), which called for inclusive and quality education, and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities. The first phase of the campaign has seen the five schools mentioned above, receive English and Mathematics text books, as well as other assorted stationery.
She further expressed her gratitude to the foreign Missions, which contributed to the campaign, and urged other Missions to do the same. She also made it known that a workshop for stakeholders would be organised to deliberate on how to improve the country’s competitiveness and productivity on the global stage.
The Minister successfully launched the campaign, concluding with a quote from the author Victor Hugo, which says “He who opens a school door, closes a prison door”. The Hon. Minister also presented certificates to the diplomatic missions who contributed to the campaign.
