By Prince Acquah
Saltpond (C/R), Oct 04, GNA-Mamdev Ghana Limited, a civil engineering and building construction firm, has reiterated its commitment to transforming the Mfantsiman Girls’ School through a raft of development projects.
The move is aimed at giving the school a befitting infrastructural facelift to commensurate with its status as one of the best girls’ schools in West Africa in terms of academics and size.
Already, the firm has undertaken a number of activities in the school including sponsoring science students for the renewable energy challenge project and providing digital training for the teachers.
Mamdev was also the strategic sponsor for the school’s just-ended 62nd speech and prize giving day which saw the firm branding the entire school with painting and flags.
Mr Joseph Kojo Mamphey, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, gave the assurance when he called on Mrs Phyllis Simpson, the Mfantsiman Girls’ School Headmistress to discuss a development roadmap for the school.
He indicated that the gesture formed part of an educational support for all Senior High Schools (SHS) in Cape Coast under the Firm’s $10 billion ‘Cape Coast Green City’ project involving housing estates and an industrial city which sought to put Cape Coast under massive transformation to make the historic town a Smart City.
He explained that although Mfantsiman Girls’ School was not in Cape Coast, their special qualities made them impossible to neglect.
With a student population of more than 5,000, Mr Mamphey was worried that the school had only 10 working computers which he said did not augur well for the training of the girls.
He said with their partners, Mamdev, through Mamdev Foundation, would renovate the school’s computer lab and provide them with 40 iMac computers.
Mr Mamphey made a strong case for the need for the private sector to be neck-deep in the development of education in the country.
He noted that education development was a shared responsibility, which required a solid partnership between the private sector and government, insisting that government was not capable of handling it alone.
“In the times that we are in, we should be able to challenge the existing roadmap and government alone does not have the capacity to fund education. There are a lot of challenges and the private sector should partner government to uplift a lot of these schools,” he indicated.
He further stated that there was the need for Ghana to interrogate the funding for education thoroughly “and we believe Mamdev and its consortium partners are the game changers when it comes to navigating the unchartered territory in the educational system.”
The Mamdev CEO also indicated that there was room for the private sector in Ghana’s education system and called for support from foreign investors and donors for the schools.
Mrs Simpson thanked the firm for its continuous support, pledging the school’s resolve to strengthen the partnership with the firm.
She, however, indicated that the Mfantsiman Girls’ School was faced with a plethora of challenges which were taking a toll on their activities as an academic institution.
Of greatest concern, she noted was the anomaly that the school was not fenced and as a result, they were dealing with encroachers and intruders, a situation she said threatened their safety and security.
She therefore appealed to all stakeholder for a wall to protect the girls and prevent further encroachments.
Reiterating other concerns, Mrs Simpson appealed during the school’s speech and prize giving day for a 5,000-seater capacity assembly hall, new dormitories and a classroom block to mitigate the challenge of overcrowding.
“Our school field is in a bad shape. As a result, our sporting activities have been affected badly. Mfantsiman, which used to the best when in sports, is no longer on top.
“If our field could be rehabilitated and brought to standard, it will go a long way to serve not only the school but the entire Mfantseman Community,” Mrs Simpson said.
GNA