The society is of the view that the increase in the number of admissions into various senior high schools as a result of the Free Senior High School Programme, compelled them to extend a hand to some students who may fall victim to peer pressure.

In an interview with Citi News on the sidelines of the celebration of this year’s World Pharmacists’ Day, by the regional branch of the Association at Koforidua Technical Senior High School (Kotech), the President of the Association, Silas Agyekum, advised first year students on the need to stay away from marijuana.

“As part of our celebrations, we took it upon ourselves to move into the community especially among the youth to educate them on irrational use of drugs and abuse of medicines in general. Here, we are talking about those who take medicines without prescription, those who take overdose of prescribed drugs, and those who give out medicines to friends to take when they complain about feeling any form of distress.”

“There are a number of dangers associated with abuse and irrational use of drugs and because of the dangers, we want to educate the kids on it for them to grow to be responsible adults for the benefit of their families and the entire nation.”

“We are also happy to associate ourselves with this wonderful innovative government policy of free senior high school for all, the number we have seen here is huge, and we know they are the future leaders and they are also vulnerable so it was a prudent decision we took to celebrate our day with them.”

“We cannot talk about free senior high school without talking about the health status of the kids, their accommodation, their feeding and upkeep, they need good food and conducive environment to learn, they also need to be protected against the illicit use of drugs.”

Silas Agyekum is of the view that extra protection and counselling needs to be done to prevent first years from being influenced by some seniors who are already abusing drugs.

“For all you know, some of the seniors are already smoking weed and abusing drugs to the extent that they may want to introduce these young ones into it so we have to ensure constant monitoring and counselling for these first year students, and I believe our interactions with them today will go a long way to help them make the right decisions for their future.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Stay away from illicit drugs – Pharmaceutical Society warns students appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The move was to expose the students to programs and courses the university offers and to guide them make relevant choices in the selection of programs.

Participating schools for the three-day event include the Takoradi Technical School TTI, Mpohor Secondary School, Takoradi Vocational and Technical Institute, the Opportunities Industrialization Center OIC among others.

Some lecturers from the Fashion, Painting and other departments took the students through their secondary school courses and its corresponding programs available at the university.

They also offered advice on different range of issues with respect to advancing their education after secondary school education.

The lecturers however warned the students not to be fixated on programs but to adapt to market demands and the changing patterns and interest.

The Vice Chancellor of the Takoradi Technical University, Prof John Frank Eshun at the event underscored the importance of giving Technical, Vocational Education and Training TVET to students across the country.

He said some developed world have been able to deal with unemployment among youths through TVET and it can also help Ghana deal with its unemployment situation.

“It’s a tool for supporting broader social development by going a long way to address unemployment. Countries such as Germany, Austria and Denmark who have long standing tradition of apprenticeship and work based learning have lowest rates of youth unemployment. The time is ripe for us to take a cue from them”.

Participating students were then taken through exhibition of projects that have been produced by students of the Takoradi Technical University.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Takoradi Technical University hosts SHS students appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.