By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Lungu (U/E), April 14, GNA – A-ensonga Hearts, a charity organisation has given 530 school furniture to 11 deprived and underserved basic schools in the Bongo District in the Upper East Region.
The furniture, comprising mono and dual desks were presented to schools ranging from the kindergarten through to the primary and the Junior High schools, which had been battling with inadequate furniture, compelling many school children to learn on bare floor.
The move aimed at helping to provide a conducive learning environment for school children in poor communities.
The gesture formed part of the A-ensonga Hearts’ “Floor to Desk (F2D)” project, which begun in 2024, to complement efforts to provide relief to vulnerable schools and support academic activities of poor and rural schools through the provision of furniture.
The beneficiary schools, include Bongo-Soe R/C KG Primary B, Feo Awusii JHS, Feo Awusii, Primary, Abelezanga JHS, Ganlagrum Primary, Balungu Nabbisi JHS, Balungu Nabbisi Primary, Balungu JHS, Kunkua Primary, Kunkua JHS and Father Lebel Memorial R/C Primary School.
Over the years, many schools in the Bongo District had been without furniture, compelling the school children to sit on the bare floor to learn and lie on their stomachs to write anytime they were required to do so.
Since 2021, the A-ensonga Hearts has been contributing to change the narrative and has provided over 800 desks to various basic schools in the Bongo District, with previous donations to schools such as Balungu Nabisi primary, Amoyaama Primary and Fr Lebel Memorial R/C primary schools.
At brief ceremonies to present the furniture to the various schools, Ms Kenndicta A-ensonga Ajene, Founder and Executive Director of A-ensonga Hearts, emphasised the importance of access to classroom furniture to achieving quality education especially in the rural communities.
According to her, the gesture was part of interventions to support in bridging the education inequalities, enhance attendance, boost the morale of teachers and contribute to improving the quality of teaching learning among pupils and their facilitators while enhancing the country’s efforts to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly goal four which puts emphasis on equal access to quality education by all by 2030.
Ms Ajene admonished the pupils and their teachers to ensure maintenance culture to ensure that the furniture lasted and achieved the purpose for which they were donated.
“I am appealing to the parents to encourage their children to take education seriously by supporting them to be in school regularly and to learn and eschew social vices and events that do not add anything to their lives”, she said.
The Executive Director stated that education was the door to world and more importantly due to the constant evolving of the world and reiterated that apart from the furniture initiative, A-ensonga Hearts would continue to work to help empower the schools and pupils for a brighter future.
The Executive Director expressed gratitude to Mr Wolfgang Seibel, the Chief Executive Officer of jucom, for supporting the initiative and called for partnership from other organisations to realise the dream of no child without a desk.
“We also want to thank other partners, organisations, individuals, friends, social media users and everyone who contributed to making the Floor to desk project a success”, she added.
On behalf of the beneficiary schools, Mr Thomas Azure Alukuke, Headteacher, Fr Lebel Memorial R/C Primary School, expressed gratitude to A-ensonga Hearts for the gesture he described as “big relief” to the schools.
He promised to ensure that the furniture was maintained and added that the gesture served as motivation for both teachers and pupils to work hard to improve the educational standards in the area, particularly the performance at the Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE).
The pupils also thanked A-ensonga Hearts for their support and promised to learn hard to ensure success.
GNA