School children at Gwosi, a highly deprived community in the Sissala East District, got the opportunity for the first time to meet a Regional Minister and a Regional Director of Education.
The children, accompanied by their parents, were at school for the first time and took part in activities marking their "My First Day at School."
A community member remarked: "Today, our children and parents are the most important personalities at Gwosi. Those of us who have refused to send our children to school are raising our necks to see children receiving toffee, caps and biscuits from the hands of Mr. Mahmad Khalid, the Regional Minister, in disappointment".
"We hope this visit will encourage many more people in the community who have not sent their children to school do so as the visit to many of us is symbolic", Madam Hayong Lurimoa, a woman farmer who had three of her daughters in the school, said.
Gwosi is near Sandema and it is considered among the most deprived communities in the district whose roads are poor and has no potable water and health facility.
Mr. Khalid interacted with the 40 children who were enrolled into Kindergarten and the 40 children in Primary One and urged the people to take interest in the education of their children.
He told the community members to cooperate with teachers posted to the school and encourage them to work hard.
Mr. Fabian Belieb, Upper West Regional Director of Education, advised the five teachers manning the school to let the community members to feel their presence in the school through high performance and helping to change the lives of the people.
At Nabulo Mr. Belieb urged teachers to handle the children properly and not to do anything that would make them drop out of school while parents should also provide their children with their basic needs.
"Teachers must learn to leave their frustrations at home before going to school to teach their children. Let us not inflict them with our frustrations and make them feel that school is an institution for punishing children."
Mr. Khalid told the people that the children in the community could only develop their potentials to the fullest if they were sent to school.
He pleaded with parents to sustain the 92 children who had enrolled into Kindergarten and the 40 children in Primary One to complete their basic education without any one of them dropping out of school.
An opinion leader, Mr. Asumah Salifu, said more children in the rural communities would have been educated if a day like "My First Day in School" had been instituted long ago for government officials to come and talk to parents and children.
He appealed for accommodation for teachers to enable them to stay and teach in the school.