600 Students undertake exchange programme

Daily Graphic, Pg 16. Tues, Feb. 16/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
SIX HUNDRED students from 17 schools in six regions in the country are undertaking a three-week exchange programme aimed at promoting intercultural diversity and intellectual advancement among the students.
The programme is under the auspices of the Country Awards Council-Ghana (CACG) and is the third to be organised so far by the Ghana National Exchange Programme for senior high schools in the country.
The students will stay in participating schools instead of their schools where they are expected to learn healthy lifestyles, patriotic service in communities, good cultural practices, HIV and AIDS prevention, promotion of tourism and effective leadership among others to help churn them into good future leaders.
This year’s programme which is under the theme; “Developing a holistic youth in diversity, a tool for national development”, has been dedicated to the memories of the late Major Courage Quashigah (retd), a former Minister of Health and Mrs Beatrice Lokko, a retired educationist who were pioneers of the programmes and were Board Chairman and Member of Board respectively of the CACG.
The programme, which was launched three years ago is being supported by the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Chieftancy and Culture, the National Youth Council, the Ministry of Health and other development partners.
A Deputy Director of Education, Secondary Education Division, Mr Ocansey Edwin Larweh, who represented the Minister of Education lauded the programme, and said that it had come at no better time when “we are witnessing so many challenges in our drive towards national development”.
He stressed the need for the youth to be trained in a manner that would enable them to be part of the development and advancement of the country, and added that the exchange programme was designed to promote a common educational platform.
Participating students, he said, would spearhead a national cultural integration process by allowing exchange students to visit schools in a totally new environment and further bridge ethnic gaps, promote academic advancement by exposing the students to diverse environments that would prepare them adequately for the task ahead of them as future leaders.
The programme, he said, would further promote tourism in the country by educating young people on the importance and future prospects of tourism, the need to safeguard and promote internal tourism and also commit young people to education programmes that would harness their talents and encourage high academic performance.
The Programme Manager, Regenerative Health of the Ministry of Health, Mr Kofi Adusei in an address, also said the programme was going to inculcate in the students the benefits of practising regenerative health practices to enable them have better lives and live longer.
He called on people to relate their lifestyles to their health saying that good lifestyle promotes healthy lives.
He, therefore, called on the students to avoid such vices as smoking, drinking, substance abuse and early sex, stressing that such practices would contribute to the deterioration of their health faster than expected.
He called on them to watch what they eat, exercise regularly and keep clean environments so that they can live healthily and longer.
The National Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council, Mr Sekou Nkrumah called on the students not to give up when times were hard but should forge ahead to realise their goals in life.
He called on the students to emulate role models such as Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah and also keep good friends to secure a better future.
The Country Director of the Country Awards Council, Mr Kobla Asamani, said the programme would help develop quality leaders to suit the geographical terrain and further promote internal tourism.
He said the programme would also ensure that voluntarism and service to the nation was high on the young persons’ development agenda.