By Albert Futukpor
Nassamba (N/R), June 03, GNA – ActionAid Ghana, has constructed new classroom blocks for two basic schools in the Nanumba South District of the Northern Region to ensure access to quality basic education for children in the area.
The projects are fully furnished three-unit classroom block with a head teacher’s office, and store, a library, play equipment, sanitary facilities for pupils and teachers and a mechanised borehole with a polytank to ensure access to potable water to serve the lower primary block for the Nassamba D/A Primary School.
The specification for the other project is a two-unit classroom block with a sleeping lobby, which has mats, a dining room furnished with tables and chairs, play equipment, and sanitary facilities for teachers and pupils. It has a mechanised borehole to ensure access to potable water to serve the kindergarten block for the Montanaya R/C Kindergarten.
While the new lower primary block for Nassamba D/A Primary School is to augment the existing infrastructure of the school to admit more pupils and improve teaching and learning, the new kindergarten block for the Montanaya R/C Kindergarten has come as a great relief for the area as the school did not have a kindergarten block, leaving a total of 158 kindergarten pupils of the school to study under trees and in an uncompleted building.
The two facilities were provided by ActionAid Ghana with the one at Nassamba D/A Primary School being funded by a group of Italian donors, while the one at Montanaya R/C Kindergarten was funded by the ActionAid Ghana Country Programme.
Mr John Nkaw, Country Director of ActionAid Ghana, who spoke at separate events in the two communities to inaugurate the facilities, said the provision of the facilities marked the beginning of a remarkable journey towards making a real impact in the lives of the people of the area.
Mr Nkaw said “This ceremony is yet another demonstration of ActionAid’s commitment to the delivery of quality child-friendly public basic education. Since 1990, we have rolled out interventions to ensure that every child in Ghana is educated regardless of their socio-economic background or gender.”
He added that “The provision of model kindergarten facilities in some communities by ActionAid across the country is part of our bigger advocacy for improving learning outcomes and promoting safe and effective teaching and learning at the public basic education level. The facilities we provide, present a model to inform how kindergarten and other educational facilities should be conceived and implemented.”
He called on the government to increase budgetary allocation to the basic education sector to shore up the number and quality of infrastructure available for basic formal education across the country.
He appealed to the Nanumba South District Directorate of Education and members of the Nassamba and Montanaya communities to ensure that the facility was properly maintained and managed by trained teachers to serve them for a long time.
Mr Zakaria Issifu, Nanumba South District Chief Executive, commended ActionAid Ghana for its interventions in the district and said the facilities would complement the efforts of the District Assembly to reduce infrastructural deficits in the educational sector in the area.
Mr Issifu said the gesture, coupled with other interventions by the District Assembly, would help to enhance education in the area to ensure improved outcomes.
Mr Mohammed Abdel Manan, Head Teacher of Nassamba D/A Primary School said the facility would help to increase enrollment and improve teaching and learning.
Mr Abdul Razak Zakaria, Head Teacher of Montanaya R/C Kindergarten said the kindergarten pupils would now study in a conducive environment, which was good for their development.
GNA