NGO supports Kanda Basic School with uniforms

Pupils of the Kanda Basic School, within the Kanda Cluster of Schools, in Accra, on Tuesday received 50 pieces of school uniforms from Inspire to Rise, a Non-Governmental Organisation.

The gesture was to ensure that the pupils had decent dressing as well as peace of mind to study.

It was also aimed at easing the plight of some parents and improve attendance, to enhance teaching and learning and boost performance of the pupils.

The uniforms were made up of 24 shirts and shorts for the male pupils and 26 dresses for girls.

In an interview with the media, Mr Emmanuel Omari-Afari, the Headmaster of Kanda Basic ‘3 and 5” school, who received the items on behalf of the circuit supervisor, said the school was faced with many challenges, which was hindering the delivery of quality education

He said attendance had been affected negatively over the years as a result of some parents’ inability to provide the basic needs such as decent school uniform, exercise books, pens and textbooks for their wards.

“Most of our pupils are not living with their biological parents and so their parental care is not adequate.

“They, therefore, come to school with lots of problems. Some do not have exercise books to write in, textbooks, and decent school uniforms and as a result, they come to school with any attire or they don’t come at all because they feel they will be ridiculed by their colleagues”.

“This gesture has therefore rightly responded to one of the biggest problems we have in the school and we hope that it will minimize the plight of some of these pupils”, he said.

While commending the foundation for its kind gesture, Mr Omari-Afari also appealed to NGOs, religious organisations and philanthropists to come to the aid of some of the pupils and the school.

Ms Wendy Laryea, the Founder of Inspire to Rise, on her part said, it was imperative that pupils had decent school uniforms to wear if the Sustainable Development Goal Four of quality education was to be attained.

“This project we call "Confidence in School" was inspired by a pupil of this school who during one of our visits we noticed that he was ridiculed and teased by his colleagues because he wore wet school uniform.

“This, we noticed had a psychological effect on him which adversely affected his perception about himself. He told us that he had only one uniform which he washes and wears frequently and so we thought it wise to provide uniforms for those who really needed them.

“We have presented 50 pieces of uniforms today and we intend to continue to ensure that pupils of this school and other schools across the country are able to get uniforms to wear to ensure that the SDG goal four of quality education is achieved”, she added.

"We are therefore grateful to our partners for their support".

Eric Boateng, a class four pupil and a beneficiary said the new uniform would ease the ridicule he had endured from his colleagues over the years due to his inability to change uniforms, adding that, it would enable him work harder to improve on his performance.