The Gomoa West African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Oversight Committee on Wednesday marked the African Union Day with a forum for Junior High Schools at Apam.
Addressing the students, the Chairman of the Oversight Committee, Dr Nii Lamptey, said the forum was not only to educate them about the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) now the African Union (AU) but also to broaden their horizon on issues concerning the African continent.
He urged students to make good use of their leisure by attending libraries and ICT centres to do research to brighten their knowledge.
Dr Lamptey said the OAU was formed by 32 African Heads of States on May 25, 1963 at Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, to liberate African countries under colonial rule and also to fight the obnoxious Apartheid government in South Africa.
He said after South Africa, the last country on the continent under colonialism became independent in 1994, the heads of states felt their objectives for forming the OAU had been achieved so they thought of changing the OAU to AU to facilitate integration of the African countries into a strong union.
Dr Lamptey said the AU was born in Dublin, South African, on 9th July 2002.
He described the theme for the Day; “Accelerating Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Development”, as very apt to the ideals of the founding fathers.
Dr Lamptey appealed to African leaders to emphasize vocational and technical education as a “means of reducing unemployment in their countries.
Mr Hayford Edu Quaye, a member of the Committee and the Proprietor of the Royal International School at Apam, called on the African leaders to set national policies, which all succeeding governments would be bound to implement.
He described the situation of governments trying to implement their own policies as the bane to under development of the continent.
Mr Emmanuel Glagoe, a Circuit Supervisor at the District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service, commended the students for their contributions to the programme and said it was an indication of the good work teachers in the District were doing.
The Oversight Committee provided the schools, 10 of them, with reading materials on the African Union to study.