By P. K. Yankey
Bonyere (W/R), Sept. 16, GNA –Madam Dorcas Afo-Toffey, Member of Parliament for Jomoro, has distributed free educational materials to 1,000 Form One students in Jomoro who have gained admission to Senior High Schools across the country.
This forms part of her sixth annual scholarship initiative aimed at supporting brilliant but needy fresh SHS entrants.
The materials included trunks, wooden chop boxes, mattresses, exercise books, and mosquito nets.
Madam Afo-Toffey, who is also Deputy Minister of Transport, presented the items to the beneficiaries through the Jomoro Municipal Director of Education at Bonyere in the Western Region.
She said she would not have attained her current position if her parents had not given her the opportunity to receive formal education.
According to her, the gesture was aimed at boosting education to transform the area, adding that, education was the backbone of personal and national development and must be given the desired attention.
The MP said the initiative had come to stay and that she would continue to support it even after retiring from public office.
She assured the chiefs and people of the area that next year’s scholarship package for new entrants to secondary schools would be extended to more beneficiaries.
Mrs Edith Mary Hagan, Jomoro Municipal Director of Education, lauded the MP’s commitment to sustaining the scholarship package for six years.
She said the materials had come at a time when some parents could not afford to buy them for their wards entering second-cycle schools.
Mrs Hagan thanked the MP for breaking the barrier in education and paving the way for needy but brilliant students who would have otherwise stayed at home due to lack of boarding materials.
She urged the beneficiaries to put the materials to good use and come out with flying colours as worthy ambassadors of Jomoro.
Mrs Hagan said the Education Directorate would assist the office of the MP to track the performance of the 1,000 students in their respective schools.
Awulae Kwasi Amakyi III, Paramount Chief of the Western Nzema Traditional Area, who chaired the function, lauded Madam Afo-Toffey for sustaining the life-changing initiative to transform lives through quality education.
He said the Traditional Council and the people of Jomoro were satisfied with her leadership, adding that the initiative was a novelty in Jomoro.
Awulae Amakyi III, however, expressed concern about the poor road network from Samenye Barrier to New Town, which had been a major development challenge, and expressed the hope that Madam Afo-Toffey would use her lobbying skills to impress upon the Ministry of Roads and Highways to have the road asphalted.
Mr Emmanuel Ndako Benle, Jomoro Constituency Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), said the beneficiaries were drawn from all communities in the Jomoro municipality.
He commended the MP for being the pacesetter of the boarding support initiative since 2020.
GNA
Edited by Justina Hilda Paaga/Linda Asante Agyei