The Catholic Church has called on District Directors of Education to appoint Catholics to head schools built by the church to instill Catholic discipline in pupils and students.
Most Reverend Philip Naameh, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, who made the call, said the appointment of Catholics would ensure holistic education by not only improving academic excellence but also building integrity among pupils and students for the benefit of society.
He made the call at Yendi over the weekend while delivering a homily during the episcopal ordination and installation of Most Reverend Matthew Yitiereh as the new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Yendi.
The Most Rev. Yitiereh, born on January 1, 1961, at Nandom Pina in the Upper West Region, was the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Tamale when His Holiness Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Yendi, which was officially announced on June 3, 2022, at the Vatican (Rome).
The Most Rev. Naameh, who is also Metropolitan Archbishop of Tamale, said the argument that the government paid salaries of teachers at schools built by the Catholic Church, and so should determine, who headed those schools, was untenable because Catholics were also citizens, and paid their taxes, which were used to pay the teachers.
He touched on the number of schools built by the church, saying at the Catholic Diocese of Yendi alone, the Catholic Church built 136 kindergartens, 136 primary schools, 47 junior high schools, a senior high school, a technical school and a college of education.
Mr. Dominic Nitiwul, the Minister for Defence, who led a government delegation to the event, said the call by the Archbishop was in the right direction as it would also help to inculcate patriotism amongst pupils and students for the benefit of the country.
Mr Nitiwul cited himself as an example, saying the discipline he went through at a Catholic school headed by Catholics was what nurtured him to get to where he was today.
He lauded the contribution of the Catholic Church to the development of the country and gave assurance that government would continue to engage the church on sensitive matters, especially on security issues to better appreciate each other for the development of the country.
