Second cycle schools receive 2,000 footballs
Stories by William N-lanjerborr Jalulah
The development of sports in second cycle institutions in the Upper East Region was given a major boost on Wednesday, when the Ministry of Youth and Sports presented 2,000 footballs to about forty of these institutions.
All the 23 public Senior High and Technical Schools, 11 private Senior High Schools (SHS), three community SHSs and other technical/ vocational schools will all get their share of the footballs.
The Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Michael Frimpong, disclosed that under the distribution package, each SH/TS would receive 15 footballs, whilst each district and municipal assembly would take home 115 to help develop sports in their respective districts.
He disclosed that the ministry had already done similar distributions in other regions across the country, and was working towards acquiring other sports kits for distribution to these institutions in the future.
The Upper East Regional Physical Education Coordinator at the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Thomas Awiah, thanked the Sports Ministry for the gesture, but appealed for the provision of adequate support for other sport disciplines such as hockey, hand ball, table tennis and others, in order to develop the youth in all the areas of sports disciplines in the country.
Some students and sports masters from the Navrongo SHS, the Bolgatanga Technical Institute, Our Lady of Lourdes SHS, Bolgatanga Girls’ SHS, and Deltee Jacobs College, a private SHS, all expressed their happiness, as they converged at the Upper East Regional Minister’s office for the brief presentation ceremony.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Owen Woyongo, who received the footballs for onward submission to the beneficiary institutions, commended the Ministry of Youth and Sports for its efforts at sports development at the senior high school level, noting that the move would produce the needed young and energetic footballers to replace the current ones in the national male and female teams, many of whose players are ageing.
The Minister observed with regret that many youth in the region’s schools and districts still improvise footballs in their training sessions, and hoped the presentation by the Youth and Sports Ministry would go a long to whip up the youth’s interests in the various games, and also enhance sports development in general.
He admonished heads of sports in the beneficiary institutions not to sell the footballs or keep them to themselves, while asking students to combine both sports and academics effectively.
Mr. Woyongo noted that sports, especially football, was big business in today’s world, and commended some basic school pupils who won several prizes at the just-ended Milo Marathon in Accra.
He also congratulated the Black Maidens for their feat in the just-ended Women’s Under-17 World Cup, and encouraged young girls to in the region to participate actively in football, saying the game was not exclusive to men only.
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