Sumaman SHS benefits from KNUST policy on admissions

Six students from Sumaman Senior High School in the Jaman North District benefitted from the KNUST policy on admissions for students from Less Endowed Schools in the country last academic year.

Mr Moses Kofi Soga, Headmaster of the school, said this during the inauguration of the third MTN Ghana e-library for the school at Suma Ahenkro.

The GHC40, 000 e-library with six computers and accessories ends this year’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care Challenge.

The challenge is an annual employee volunteer initiative launched by MTN Group in 2007 to encourage MTN staff in all operating countries to participate in community service for 21 days each year in June.

The theme for this year’s challenge is “Investing in Education for All”.

Mr. Soga said the school established in 1981 with 15 students has 450 students and waiting for approval from the Ministry of Education to admit students for boarding.

He said the school lacked some basic facilities but since 2011 efforts had been made to improve the conditions with the construction of an 800-metre wall to prevent encroachment and use of the school as a thoroughfare.

Mr. Soga said challenges facing the school included payment of school fees with the catchment area being a high poverty area, low enrolment, late admissions, poor infrastructure, water and electricity.

He appealed to the Jaman North District Assembly for assistance to complete a 12-unit classroom block being financed under GETFUND but abandoned since 2010.

Mr. Soga appealed to MTN as part of their social responsibility to drill and mechanize a borehole for the school at an estimated cost of GHC15,000, adding “ the school is ready to construct the overhead tanks and lay pipes for the distribution”.

On electricity, he said the authorities submitted proposals to US-based Engineers Without Borders (EWB) under its $20,000 First Solar Energy Project.

Mr. Soga said the competition was worldwide and the school won, therefore, experts from the University of California are expected at Suma Ahenkro next August to undertake feasibility studies for the commencement of the project in collaboration with Changing Life International, a US-based NGO.

He said most of the students are from the surrounding villages where there are no or poor MTN reception in the district and appealed to the management to improve the reception in order not to affect patronage of the facility.

Mr Soga said the authorities had decided to use MTN Mobile Money to pay school fees to prevent students from bringing cash on them to avoid the temptation of their monies being lost or used for other purposes.

He appealed to the MTN for assistance to use the facility for bulk messaging to send bills, reports and invitations to parents and guardians directly onto their mobile phones.

“This will help parents and guardians have first hand information from the school administration,” Mr Soga added.

Mr. Stephen Asare, MTN Mobile Money Manager, Northern Ghana, inaugurating the facility said the theme was revisited because of the critical role education plays both in national development and in the life of the individual.

He said two e-libraries have already been built in Accra and Tarkwa to open up access to over 40,000 e-books from around the world on a wide range of subjects, from the sciences to the arts.

“This will be a very useful source of reference for both teachers and students of the beneficiary schools. It is hoped that the facility will help improve the level of education in the schools and enrich the lives of those who patronize them,” he added.

Mr. Asare said other projects embarked on within the period included the sewing and distribution of about 3,000 school bags from flexi materials to selected schools nationwide.