By Iddi Yire, GNA
Donkorkrom (E/R), May 28, GNA – The kindergarten (KG) of the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School has recorded a 70 per cent increase in enrollment following the provision of hot tea beverage every morning for the children, Mrs Agnes Sakyi-Djan, Head Teacher, Donkorkrom Presbyterian Primary and Junior High School, has disclosed.
She said the programme, which began in October 2023, in the school under the auspices of the school’s Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and the School Management Committee (SMC), forms part of the “Community of Excellence Project”, being implemented in the Kwahu Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region by The Jacobs Foundation and UNICEF Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES).
She lauded UNICEF Ghana, the Jacobs Foundation and GES for providing training and sensitization for the school’s PTA and SMC, which led to the take-off of the project in the school.
She reiterated that the hot tea beverage every morning programme, provided for Kindergarten (KG) One and Two pupils of the school, had led to a 70 per cent enrollment increase.
She said the two classes used to have a population of 16 and 18 pupils, however, following the take-off of the hot tea beverage every morning programme in October 2023, their population was now 65.
“Usually, the majority of the students do not come to school early but now because of the hot tea, they do come to school early to enjoy their hot tea,” Mrs Sakyi-Djan stated in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Donkorkrom during a working visit by UNICEF Ghana to project sites in Donkorkrom in the Afram Plains North District of the Eastern Region.
The UNICEF delegation, which is on a three-day project working visit to project sites in the Kwahu Afram Plains is being led by Mrs Offeibea Baddoo, Communication Specialist, UNICEF Ghana and Dr Tillmann L. Guenther, an Education Specialist, UNICEF Ghana.
Mrs Sakyi-Djan said the Donkorkrom Presbyterian School, which was established in 1940, had so many students passing through it over the years and that currently, it has a population of 360 students, which consist of 160 boys and 200 girls.
Touching on the invasion of the school’s premises by traders on Donkorkrom Market Days, Mrs Sakyi-Djan said with the help of the GES, the Afram Plains North District Assembly and the Ghana Police Service, the issue was now outdated.
Saying: “Market women no longer intrude into the School’s Compound to sell things”.
She said plans were now underway for the construction of a fence wall around the school’s premises.
Mr Solomon Azubila, Education Director, Kwahu Aframs Plains North District, who was full of praise for the Jacob Foundation and UNICEF Ghana, said the “Community of Excellence Project” was a pilot project that seeks to improve the standards of education in the District by collaborating with stakeholders to find innovative ways to promote teaching and learning, and child development in the communities.
He said the provision of hot tea beverages for KG One and Two pupils in the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Primary and JHS, would soon be scaled up to Primary One to Three, as part of an effort to increase enrollment.
The Jacobs Foundation is a Swiss-based organization devoted to promoting child and youth development all over the world.
UNICEF Ghana in 2022, received funding from The Jacobs Foundation, a Zurich-based philanthropic organization that promotes quality education for every child. The Foundation promotes quality education, and it currently finances projects in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Colombia.
The Foundation provided $2.3m to UNICEF Ghana to co-create two projects that promote quality education with education stakeholders and community members in Kwahu Afram Plains North of the Eastern Region and Builsa North Municipality of the Upper East Region.
The project started in June 2022 and will end in November 2024.
Its implementation is led by the Ghana Education Service (GES) District and Municipal Education Directorates in both districts with support from GES Headquarters.
GNA