The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has inaugurated a new ultra-modern Kindergarten block for the Komenda M/A Primary School in the Central Region.

The facility was jointly funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government.

It has a staff common room, a dining hall, classrooms and a playing ground.

Speaking at the inauguration, Prof Opoku-Agyemang said Kindergarten had been mainstreamed into the basic education system, therefore, more work was needed in the area of infrastructural and human resource development.

She said the Government was implementing policies, programmes and interventions focused on improving equitable access to quality early childhood education care, which were all being supported by its relevant stakeholders and development partners.

She said the KG Block was a manifestation of the Government's commitment to providing support for early childhood education.

The Government was also providing teaching and learning materials for pupils, which she said had led to a significant improvement in the ratio of text book to pupils, which was four text books to one pupil as against one text book three pupils in 2013.

Prof Opoku-Agyemang said the Government had provided thousands of furniture and was in the process of procuring extra text books for the senior high school students in a bid towards expanding and raising the quality of education at all levels.

She said the Government had prioritised early grade learning and training in seven colleges of education and was optimistic that the interventions put in place would yield greater tangible results.

She said the number of KG schools in the country had increased by 17 per cent whereas enrolment had also gone up by 15 per cent.

According to her, the use of trained teachers at the basic school level had improved by 12 per cent, while pupil teaching had seen an improvement of 10.5 per cent, all of which were important in ensuring quality education.

Mr Joseph Annan, the headmaster of the School, commended the Government for the project and appealed for the renovation of the primary school block, which was in a deplorable state.

The Minister earlier toured some schools in the Region as part of the 'My First Day at School' exercise to check their preparedness on the first day of a new academic year, during which she interacted with the pupils and encouraged them to stay in school and learn hard.

She presented school uniforms, sandals, reading and writing materials and other stationery to the class one pupils, who were experiencing their first day at school.

The Apewosika M/A Basic School in the Cape Coast Metropolis received 20 laptop computers in addition to the other items.

Prof Opoku Agyemang underscored the importance of 'My First Day at School', saying the first week in the new term was equally essential as any other day and must be taken serious.

GNA