Education and Publicity on 2000 Census Begins

Accra (Greater Accra), 22^nd January 2000

Education and publicity on the forthcoming Population and Housing Census scheduled for March 26, has started in earnest in all the regions with a call on all ministers, district chief executives and officials of the census and affiliated offices to lend a hand.

This follows the dispatch of publicity materials and documents to all the 10 regions by the Publicity and Education Committee of the 2000 Population and Housing Census last Tuesday.

The Committee, under the Chairmanship of Mr. John Mahama, Minister of Communication, seeks to raise census awareness among the population, educate the

public on census activities and to seek their co-operation in making the exercise to achieve complete coverage.

The publicity and education materials include three different kinds of posters, flyers with the dos and don'ts during a population census.

Dr K.A Twum-Baah, acting Government Statistician at the Census Secretariat, said that district and regional publicity and census teams had been established and have started educating people in the regions to ensure a successful census.

He appealed to media houses, and the general populace, to make themselves available for the census and help to explain what the event is to those who do not understand.

The 2000 Population and Housing census is under the Theme: Counting Our People for National development and is under the slogan: Get Counted, Get Involved.

The Committee told the GNA that other publicity programmes coming up in the next few weeks will include discussion programmes on television, radio and newspapers.

The rest are GTV discussion programmes on Public Concern, adult education in the various local languages and other publicity and education programmes on the private FM and television stations throughout the country.

An exercise to sensitise programme presenters of FM stations on the need to include information on the event is underway as a collaborative means of meeting the desired objectives of the Committee.

Nine censuses have been conducted in the country since 1891, with three in post-independence Ghana - 1960, 1970 and 1984.

The population census will among others provide facts essential to governmental policy- making, planning and administration.

Information on the size, distribution and characteristics of a country's population is essential in describing and assessing its economic, social and demographic circumstances.

It will also develop sound policies and programmes aimed at fostering the welfare of a country and its population.

Census results are also used in policy development and evaluation for programmes in such fields as education and literacy, employment and manpower, family planning, housing, maternal and child health, rural development, transport and highway planning as well as urbanisation.

GRi