The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali-Idris, says there is the need to identify and unearth indigenous cultural values which are vital in eliminating illiteracy, ignorance, indiscipline and lawlessness in schools and the society at large.  The Minister was speaking at the opening of the Seventh Senior Schools Super Zonal Festival of Arts in Tamale.

The festival with the theme, “Promoting our Culture through Healthy Living” has brought together 36 Senior High Schools (SHS).  The participating teams will perform drama and dance, drum language poetry recitals, among other and it aim’s at tapping the talents of the competitors and selecting a team that will represent the region at the National festival of Arts scheduled to take place in Tamale this year.  

Alhaji Ali-Idris said, government has given due recognition to co-curricular activities in the school curriculum in pursuance of the New Education Reforms and suggested that all subjects that come under cultural studies be highly embraced and seriously studied like other subjects.

The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Education service, John Kwesi Hobenu, observed that the festival will not only create an enabling environment for the teams to interact with one another but will afford them the opportunity to admire and appreciate others.  He said culture is the sum total of all contributions of a group of people in a designated area within a given time and represents more specifically, the intellectual achievements of an individual or society.