Accra
(Greater Accra) 12 September 2002- Sheikh Ibrahim C. Quaye, Greater Accra
Regional Minister, on Wednesday appealed to parents to adopt sound environmental
practices that would be emulated by their children to help protect and preserve
the environment. He said "all of us depend on the environment for our
survival and sustenance. Without the environment there can be no life, and
therefore no civilisation."
Sheikh
Quaye was speaking at the Eighth Basic Schools Cultural Festival, which brought
school children from all the ten regions of the country together to display
their cultural Heritage. The three-day festival, organised by the Ghana
Education Service (GES) was on the Theme: "Preserving Our Environment
Through Our Culture."
The
participants would contest in poetry recitals, drum language, sight singing and
choral music. The Minister said the theme for the festival was appropriate
because human activities tend to destroy the environment. He deplored the
indiscriminately felling of trees for charcoal and timber for building
projects, setting of bushfires, polluting of rivers and indiscriminate dumping
of rubbish.
Miss Lydia
Osei, Deputy Director General of GES said the nation's forest had been
depleted, rivers polluted and wild life endangered. She said the time had come
for all and sundry to hold onto the cultural practices that helped to protect
the environment. Miss Osei said educating the youth through culture was
therefore crucial because it would help put them on the road to self-esteem and
confidence, which was fundamental in the life of every child. "In this
way, we would be helping to preserve our rich cultural heritage and leave a
legacy to posterity", she added.
GRi…/
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