{"id":142216,"date":"2015-08-10T17:11:03","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T17:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=142216"},"modified":"2015-08-10T18:04:41","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T18:04:41","slug":"parents-to-blame-for-worrying-school-dropout-rate-in-james-town-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/08\/parents-to-blame-for-worrying-school-dropout-rate-in-james-town-mp\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents to blame for worrying school dropout rate in James Town – MP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Member of Parliament for the Odododiodio Constituency, Nii Lante Vanderpuye has attributed the high school dropout rates among pupils in James Town, a suburb of Accra to the mindset of residents in the area.<\/p>\n

Citi FM<\/strong>\u2019s Nana Boakye-Yiadom last week reported on troubling situation<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0in James Town and the consequences on the future of children in the area.<\/p>\n

The report revealed that a lot of the children who live in the area had dropped out of school to fish or sell while teenage pregnancy was also common.<\/p>\n

James Town is a predominantly fishing community\u00a0with high levels of urban poverty.<\/p>\n

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Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>\u00a0about the issues raised in the report, the MP for the constituency who is also the Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development said, the parents in the community preferred spending on funerals instead of educating their children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people who when they have a funeral do not mind going to borrow for the funeral for three days of\u00a0 enjoyment and activity buying (funeral) cloth for the different days. On Monday they come asking for school fees from me,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

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Nii Lante Vanderpuiye said the parents must be taught the essence of giving their children good formal education describing it as the only solution to the challenge at hand.<\/p>\n

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He said \u201cWe need to put in a lot of effort\u00a0 in changing the mindset of the people in making them understand that\u00a0 there is more gain in investing that ten or twenty Cedis in your child\u2019s education which will guarantee the child a better education than buying a cloth for a funeral that you cannot use after the funeral. There are many people who have a lot of funeral cloths in their wardrobe but their children are at home because they cannot afford their children\u2019s school fees. We have to educate the parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Town is one of the several areas along the coastline of Ghana where parents prefer to push their children into fishing for financial gain instead of schooling.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Click on the link below to watch the video<\/p>\n