Parents have been called upon to advise their wards to take their studies seriously and to also embrace technical education and encourage dropouts to acquire skills to help guarantee a brighter future.
For any community to develop, there must be a conscious effort to invest in the human resource base of the community, with education being the most reliable vehicle of transformation.
These remarks were made by the Yorogo Chief, Naba Kosomo Lebge Serum, during the maiden Tigisitaba Festival of the Chiefs and people of the Yorogo Traditional area.
Tigisitaba” literally means join together festival is the first of its kind to be celebrated by the Chiefs and people of the Yorogo community, under the theme “Tigisitaba joins Yariba together to foster Unity for Development”.
The festival brought together chiefs, opinion leaders, assemblymen and women and some delegation from the sister city in Burkina Faso.
Festivals have been observed by Yariba (the people of Yorogo) for a very long time, independently by the eight communities that constitute Yorogo.
Yorogo is politically part of the Bolgatanga Constituency and lies about six kilometres North of Bolgatanga along the Bolga-Bongo Road.
It has 8 traditional administrative sections sharing boundaries with Bongo, Dua, Gowrie, Yipala, Bolga-Soe and Zaare.
The 2010 census put the population of Yorogo at 5,706, made up of 2,984 females and 2,722 males.
The community is blessed with 5 primary schools, 5 kindergartens, 3 Junior High Schools, three Clinics, the Presbyterian Regional Eye Hospital and the Bolgatanga Abattoir.
The main occupation of the people is subsistence farming, rearing, basketry and blacksmithing among other artifacts.
In a speech read by Asebga Patrick on behalf of the Yorogo Chief, Kosomo Lebge Serum indicated that teenage pregnancy and early marriages remain a major contributory factor to the high school dropouts among girls, at a time when there is growing demand and opportunities for the education of the girl child.
He added that indiscipline and alcoholism had eaten so much into the fabric of society cutting across all facets of life.
He noted that littering of the environment, reckless riding, and disrespect of elders and authority is a result of the indiscipline in society and Yorogo is no exception.
The Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive on behalf of the Upper East Regional Minister Tangoba Abayage, explained that poverty, ignorance, apathy, dishonesty, dependency and disease are the common enemies of the people and it is against this backdrop that the government’s Free Senior High policy has come.
The Chairman for the occasion, Dr. Ayimbire Abonuusum advised Yaribas that, with stronger collaboration and network, the community stands the chance of achieving greater feet.
The proceeds of the festival will be used in funding the construction of an ultra-modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) library for the Yorogo cluster of schools.
Story filed by: Emmanuel Akayeti
