By Philip Tengzu
Kaleo, (UW/R), April 25, GNA – The Volta River Authority (VRA) has renovated the Kaleo D/A Primary School in the Nadowli-Kaleo District and provided ancillary facilities to aid effective academic activities in the school.
That formed part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the Kaleo community and the Upper West Region in general, following the construction of a 28MW Solar Power plant in that community by the government of Ghana through the VRA.
The VRA renovated the six-unit classroom block and an office, replaced all the doors and windows, supplied students’ and teachers’ furniture, renovated the school library, and stocked it with furniture as well as renovated the school kitchen.
The Authority also constructed and mechanised a borehole with an overhead tank and constructed an eight-seater Water Closet toilet facility for the school to serve the water and sanitation needs of the 172 pupils and seven teachers of the school.
The physical appearance of the school structure has also been enhanced by patching cracked walls, and floors and painting the structure.
The school has also been supplied with ceiling fans and lights to not only create a conducive environment for academic activities to thrive but also to catch a glimpse of passersby.
Madam Sophia Sabogu, the Head teacher of the school, expressed gratitude to the VRA for giving a facelift to the school, which she said would positively impact teaching and learning as well as attract more learners to the school with its beautiful appearance.
“The renovation means a lot to the pupils, teachers, and the community as well. I can say we are privileged to have this from VRA.
We are most grateful to the VRA, and we pray that God will replenish the (VRA) a million times,” she told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Kaleo during a brief ceremony to hand over the school to the community.
According to her, since she was transferred to the Kaleo D/A Primary School in 2014, the windows and doors of the school had been in a bad state and could not secure any property of the school but with the renovation all properties of the school were secured.
Talking about water, Madam Sabogu explained that they used to pay money before they could get water at the school but said the mechanised borehole and overhead tank provided by the VRA, their cost in buying water would reduce if not taken off completely.
The Kaleo D/A Primary School, which was started in 1947, currently has 172 pupils and seven teachers.
Mr Abdul Noor Wahab, the Acting Director of Water Resources and Renewable Energy at VRA handed over the renovated school, which was a few meters from the solar project on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Mr Emmanuel Antwi-Darkwa.
He told the GNA that the school was in a poor state and the VRA saw the need to put it in a better condition to improve quality teaching and learning.
He said the status of the doors and windows of the school were appalling and the few students and teachers’ furniture available were also in a bad state.
“So essentially, we found the facility in a state that was bad or poor, should I say, and we tried to put it in a state better than we found it by providing some of the basic things that we felt a school like this required,” he indicated.
He said the intervention was to encourage the community to support and protect the solar power project since they would know the impact of the project on their lives and the development of the community in general.
“We believe that by doing this, the community will see that we mean well, and they will be the first protectors of the property that we have because they know that we mean well,” Mr Wahab added.
GNA