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About 19 Primary, Junior High Schools (JHS) and Senior High Schools (SHS) participated in a parade to mark Ghana's 53rd Independence Anniversary at Daboase in the Mpohor Wassa East District. The schools included the Daboase District Assembly (D/A) Primary and JHS, Kakokrom D/A, Ahmadiyya Primary and JHS, Subri Industrial Plantation Limited (SIPL) Primary and JHS, Mpohor SHS and Daboase SHS. Addressing the parade, Mr Anthony Bassaw, the District Chief Executive, who took the salute, said the people must unite and work towards making Ghana a better place for the present and future generations. "As we are all aware, the future of our Nation lies in the hands of our youth". He said it has become very important to promote and develop youth activities while creating opportunities in various fields for the teeming young men and women in the district. Mr. Bassaw said when the youth are provided with opportunities, they would serve as powerful agents of development in the district in particular and the nation at large. He said the current policies and programmes for the youth have demonstrated the government's commitment towards investing in the youth. In the area of education, the government is committed and has fulfilled its promise of providing free exercise books and school uniforms for pupils in deprived areas of the district. Mr. Bassaw said the district was allocated 154,000 copies of exercise books for distribution to primary and JHS and the district received 132,951 copies of the books last month. He said the District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has drawn up programmes for the distribution of the books to all schools this month and in addition, the district also received 500 pieces of school uniforms to be distributed to basic schools in deprived areas. Mr. Bassaw said 1,500 youth registered with the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) in the district of which about 700 could be selected to benefit from teaching, nursing and tree planting modules of the programme. He said 15 youth have also been selected for recruitment into Prisons, Fire and Police Services adding, 68 youth were employed under the sanitation (Zoomlion) component of the NYEP while 30 were selected for dressmaking, 10 for ICT and two for photography. Mr. Bassaw warned those who were engaged in illegal mining activities and their accomplices would be prosecuted when found out. He said: "We should, therefore, be advised to learn to protect and not destroy the environment especially, our water bodies. Mr. Bassaw said the District Assembly would continue to support critical sectors such as education, health, agriculture through the provision of basic infrastructure and logistics as a way of improving the standard of living of the people of the district and promoting the better Ghana Agenda.