By Samuel Akumatey, GNA
Nkwakubew (E/R), Feb. 27, GNA- A dilapidated 57 year old primary school in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region has been renovated by Pencils of Promise, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), and the Volta River Authority (VRA).
The twelve-unit classroom block of the Presbyterian Primary School at Nkwakubew, built in 1963, has weathered into a desolate pavilion, and was in 2018 captured among priority projects to be supported under the VRA’s Resettlement Trust Fund.
Pencils of Promise, an international education support organization, has undertaken a five year memorandum of understanding with the VRA to improve upon education in its resettlement communities and bore 70 per cent of the GH¢423,000 project, which included sanitation facilities.
Mr Freeman Gobah, Country Director for Pencils of Promise, at a handing over ceremony on Wednesday, counted the project among the biggest the organization has executed in its seven-year presence in the country.
He said it was the fruit of a successful collaboration among the organization, the VRA, and the community, and asked the latter to revel in the edifice, and maintain it to serve generations to come.
“Today we have completed the project. The school is now yours and you must help maintain it,” the Director said, and cautioned against using the facility for non-academic purposes, especially by the public.
Justice Emmanuel Nana Antwi-Barima, Board Chairman of the VRA Trust Fund, also asked the school and the community to ensure that the facility was kept to standard.
He said the Board, since its inauguration in April 2018, has been working on improving upon social interventions in VRA’s resettlement areas and would carry the partnership with Pencils of Promise through all 52 communities.
Mr Thomas Ampem Nyarko, Member of Parliament for Asuogyaman, said the partnership between Pencils of Promise and the VRA was “promising and would yield good results,” praising the NGO for helping revive communism in areas it operated.
He advised students, teachers and parents to ensure the facility helped produce the desired academic improvements, saying “a classroom block is not done in itself unless it contributes in improving academic performance”.
Mr Samuel Kwame Agyekum, District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, said the importance of education has led to government effort to ease the financial burden attached to schooling, hence the need for all parents to make their wards reap the benefits.
He said the Assembly has committed to rehabilitating health facilities and school buildings in the District.
The school has a total student population of 437, with 17 teaching staff.
Mr Francis Akpator, the School Head, said the lifespan of the school building had been expanded and appealed to stakeholders to address the structural integrity of its kindergarten block and provide the children with some playing materials.
School furniture including 55 dual desks, furniture for teaching staff, ceiling fans, and two 10,000-liter capacity water storage tanks, were also provided as part of the project.
GNA