LOCAL TAILORS MUST SEW UNIFORMS (MIRROR, PAGE 42, MAY 22, 2010)

From Nana Konadu Agyeman, Koforidua.

THE Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has urged the 21 municipal and district assemblies in the Eastern Region to abide by the government’s directive to award the sewing of the free school uniforms to indigenous tailors and dressmakers in their areas.
He, therefore, has asked Municipal and District Chief Executives to obtain the names of members of the Tailors and Dressmakers Association in their areas to be considered for the job.
This, he said, would create employment for the local tailors and dressmakers to enable them to raise their standard of living.
Handing over 42,000 pieces of school uniforms and about 2,950,000 exercise books to the 21 Municipal and District Chief Executives in Koforidua, Mr Ofosu Ampofo warned that “the government will find it unacceptable if the sewing of school uniforms is awarded to tailors and dressmakers outside any district”.
The school uniforms, after it had been sewn, would be distributed to 42,000 school children in some of the deprived communities in the region. Each of the assemblies would be provided with 2,000 pieces to be sewn.
The regional minister said the provision of various poverty alleviation interventions by the government such as free school uniforms, the School Feeding Programme and the Capitation Grant were meant to uplift educational standards in the country and motivate schoolchildren to be in the classrooms.
On the provision of the exercise books, Mr Ofosu Ampofo expressed worry over reports about the sale of the books in some districts in the region and, therefore, appealed to the MCEs and the DCE to “exercise strict oversight responsibility to curb the practice”.
He hinted that the unfortunate practice had arisen because individuals who had been engaged to convey the books from the premises of the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council to the various district education directorate offices often sold some of the books out “to cover the cost incurred on carting them to the various districts”.
He, therefore, urged the MCEs and the DCEs to send vehicles belonging to the assemblies to convey the books in order to put an end to the practice.
Receiving the items on behalf of the districts, the Eastern Regional Director of Education, Mrs Rene Boakye-Boateng, expressed appreciation to the government for its commitment to raise the standard of education in the country.