Vice President John Dramani Mahama has advised Muslims to harness the benefits of secular education for their social and economic development.
He noted that embracing secular education was still a challenge to Muslims and appealed to them to make efforts to address it for their
children's sake.
Vice President Dramani gave the advice when he graced the 4th Speech and Prize Giving Day celebration of the Islamic Senior High School in Wa, after he had cut sod for the construction and equipping of a new 160 bed Upper West Regional Hospital.
He urged Muslim parents to encourage their young girls to go to school and avoid the practice of giving them out for marriage at very early ages.
"We must begin to allow them to develop their potentials through education. We must not truncate their education through practices that put them in a disadvantaged position," Vice President Mahama cautioned.
He gave the assurance that government was committed to providing infrastructure and to motivate teachers to give up their best in school, and urged parents to change their attitudes towards the education of their
children.
Vice President Mahama advised students to be disciplined in whatever endeavours they found themselves.
Mr Sulemana Alhassan, Headmaster of the School, said though the school is an Islamic entity, it has been admitting and accommodating students from all shades of religious and cultural groups within the region and beyond.
He bemoaned the use of mobile phones by students in the school, and said that had contributed immensely to either loss of concentration in their academic work or amorous adventures outside campus.
Mr Alhassan appealed to parents to ensure that their wards do not come to school with mobile phones, while the Ghana Education Service institute stringent measures to stop the practice.
He commended Government for providing the school with a six-unit classroom block and 12-unit classroom block which was yet to be awarded on contract, while work was ongoing at its two-storey dormitory block.
He appealed to government to provide the school with a fence wall to help cordon off students from intruders and also curb the incidence of students' constant movement into town.
Mr Alhassan announced that the Jonga, Biihee and Busa communities had allocated one and half kilometre square piece of land to the school to
relocate.
He said the school had been able to put up its own computer laboratory and connected it to the internet to help enhance practical lessons on
Information and Communication Technology.
The Headmaster thanked the Parent/Teacher Association of the school for providing a dinning hall for the students and the Friday (Jumah)
congregation group for donating a library hall.
On academic performance, Mr Alhassan announced that the 2009 WASSCE results saw 98 percent of the students obtaining passes and about 64 per cent qualifying for tertiary education.
The Wa Islamic Senior High School was established in 1996 as a Community Day School by the Muslim Community and was mainstreamed into the
public system in 1998.