First ICT lab in Akatsi North commissioned at Atanve Basic School

A newly constructed Library and Information Technology (IT) Centre has been commissioned at Atanve D/A Basic School in the Akatsi North District.

The Atanve Literacy and IT Centre, which was initiated and completed by Ms Hamdia Mahama and Maame Yaa Afram, Lead for Ghana (LFG) fellows (Cohort 2018) with donor support from World Connect, had chiefs and community members contribute labour, while Yo Ghana and benevolent individuals supported with equipment.

Mr Okine Boniface, the Headteacher of the School in a welcome address during the commissioning of the centre, said it was the first of its kind in the District and expressed gratitude for the partnership with LFG since 2016, which had brought some transformation to the School.

He identified achievements of the last batch of LFG cohorts to include painting of the Junior High School Block, distribution of an economical and long-lasting menstrual pad, menstrual cups to girl pupils, career and handicraft exhibition, the formation of reading clubs and the new literacy and IT centre.

The Headteacher welcomed all education stakeholders on board to help so pupils at the School could justify these interventions by doing well in their final examination.

“Our students refused to learn despite all the interventions we have. The school has all it takes to score 100 percent but we could not in the last couple of years. I want to appeal to all stakeholders in education to help achieve this 100 per cent ambition.”

Madam Paulina Slyn Eworde, Akatsi North District Director of Education, said the place should not serve as a recreational centre, but be used for the purpose of improving the academic performance of pupils at the school and neighbouring schools saying, “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Ms Hamdia Mahama said as a fellow of an organisation bent on eliminating educational inequality in underserved communities in Ghana, building a space to provide literacy and IT skills for children was the best way to make an impact at Atanve.

Dr Prince Sodoke Amuzu, the District Chief Executive in a speech read on his behalf, thanked LFG saying, the surest way to march pupils in rural communities to their counterparts in urban areas was through the deployment of IT.

He promised that the Assembly would put up a management committee to ensure the maintenance of the facility to make it stand the test of time and serve the purpose for which it was constructed.