By Edward Williams
Lolobi (O/R), Nov. 14, GNA – The African Challenge, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has donated 716 mono desks to four Basic and Junior High Schools (JHS) in the Guan and Jasikan Assemblies of the Oti Region.
The donation, sponsored by the Australian High Commission, benefited the Lolobi Kumasi R/C Basic School and JHS, Lolobi Huasem Basic Schools, Baika Basic Schools and Lolobi Ashiambi Basic School and JHS.
Mr John Adza, Executive Director, The African Challenge, said the organisation had supported schools and communities with initiatives in education and safe drinking water.
He said there must be a deliberate optional financial investment to support and improve deprived, neglected and under resourced basic schools.
Mr Adza said there was the need to enhance the capacity of educational regulators to have proper oversight over classroom best practices.
He noted that quality of education should not depend on where one lived hence every child must have access to quality education irrespective of their location.
Mr Adza said rural and poor disadvantaged children must be supported to improve their educational outcomes.
He noted that addressing the needs of basic education sector was crucial for creating a strong educational foundation that supported the overall success of the Free SHS programme and the country’s development goals to ensure that every child received quality education for a brighter future.
Mr Adza said strong basic educational systems had a higher rate of economic growth and social stability hence investing in primary and JHS, improving teacher quality training and the availability of textbooks, materials and infrastructure were essential steps towards a holistic and sustainable education system.
He said in recent years, the government had prioritised the Free SHS policy which had inadvertently led to the neglect of the basic education system.
Mr Udzu Forster, Headteacher, Lolobi Kumasi R/C Primary expressed gratitude to the Organisation on behalf of the beneficiary schools.
He said they would take good care of the desks, adding that his school faced many challenges which needed to be addressed.
Bokornyi Ipiasi Mango III, Queen of Lolobi Kumasi, said the Lolobi Kumasi R/C Kindergarten block needed support for its reroof and called for benevolent assistance.
She said the school as well as the community continued to lack potable drinking water which needed to be addressed in earnest.
Mr Benjamin M.K Sagodo, a native of Lolobi Kumasi, urged the learners to take their studies seriously to make a case for the support they received.
He also called on teachers to offer their all for the development of the learners while calling on parents not to relent on their efforts of providing the necessary educational support their wards needed.
GNA