Anglogold Ashanti's educational intervention programs commended

AngloGold Ashanti Ghana, Obuasi Mine has been praised for its intervention programs targeted at improving the quality of education in Obuasi.

The mining giant has introduced plethora of educational intervention programs since 2019. The programs which include training workshops for teachers, improving educational facilities and supplying of learning materials, have been one of the key pillars in the company's 10-year Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP).

Speaking to the media after a 3-day workshop for teachers in both the Obuasi East and the Obuasi Municipality, the Obuasi Municipal Director of Education, George Alfred Koomson said the company since 2019 has improved education in Obuasi and this has yielded positive results.

He said: "AGA has been organizing quiz competition for schools with mouth-watering prizes, they have been organizing workshops for teachers and put up modern infrastructural facilities. These are remarkable interventions that have improved the quality of education".

Throwing more light on the just ended instructional training workshop in reading for early grade teachers sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti, Koomson said after analysing BECE results in Obuasi, the education directorates in the two districts found out that most students could not read and understand the questions asked.

He added that there was the need to focus on improving the reading ability of pupils at the early stages.

"We concentrated on teachers at the Kindergarten and Basic levels (KG1, KG2, BS1, BS2 and BS3)", he added.

In all, over 500 teachers from both districts took part in the training. The KG teachers received training in jolly phonics while the lower primary teachers received training in transition from Ghanaian Language of instruction (in teaching) to English Language.

The education director appealed to parents to support their children's education by providing them with learning materials and food.

He said, "In as much as government is doing its part, parents have the responsibility of complementing government's effort by supporting by providing books for their kids".

The Stakeholders engagement superintendent of AngloGold Ashanti, Edmond Oduro Agyei said improving quality education in Obuasi features prominently in the company's Socio-Economic Development Plan launched in 2022.

He further stated that the company taking feedbacks from the education directorates decided to focus on training teachers at the basic level.

"We collaborated with the GES to access the impact of our previous training programs. The feedback informed us to target improving the reading ability of pupils at early grade stage", he added.

Oduro mentioned that aside the training programs, AngloGold Ashanti is currently constructing a state- of the-art 9-unit classroom block at Sanso and commenced commercial arrangement towards the construction of an 18- unit classroom block at Anyinam.

Again, he revealed that AGA has completed contractual arrangements towards the construction of a center of excellence for robotic training at Obuasi Senior High Technical School in a bid to promote STEM education.

The participants commended AngloGold Ashanti and the Ghana Education Service for the training program which will impact positively on their work.