AED donates to Akwei School

Accra, June 8, GNA - The Academy for Educational Development (AED), a United States of America based non-profit charitable organisation has presented a cheque for 10 million cedis to support projects at the Richard Akwei Memorial School at Ayalolo, in Accra.

The Chief Executive Officer of AED, Mr Stephen F Mosley, presented the cheque for the amount during a visit to the School by the 17-member Board of the organisation. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Mosley said members of the AED Board who were meeting for the first time outside the United States in Ghana were pleased to have strong ties with school. He expressed the satisfaction of the AED Board that a similar donation to the school four years ago had been put to good use and promised the organisation's continued support and co-operation with the school.

Mr Mosley stressed the importance of education for leadership and said without it there could not be national development, adding that, there would be more opportunities for educated people with economic growth and urged the students and pupils to take their studies seriously.

The President of AED, Dr Russels expressed satisfaction that there had been a marked improvement in the performance of the school since the organisation forged links with the institution and commended the community, the teachers and parents for the achievement. He stated that the Board was satisfied that the "limited resources" AED gave to the school last four years had been put to good use and had helped towards the improvement of the school.

The AED President gave the assurance that the organisation would continue its co-operation with the school to strengthen relations between Ghana and the United States.

Ms Doris Sika Dzesu, the Head-Teacher, said the School was privileged to host the AED Board, adding that, since two American Congressmen, Mr Mark Green and Mr Pomeroy visited the school in 2001, relations between the organisation and institution had grown from strength to strength. She commended AED, the School Management Committee (SMC) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) for their efforts to improve infrastructure and facilities and stated that since 1997, the academic performance of the school had been improving with the majority of the pupils aspiring to further their education.

Ms Dzesu praised the SMC for initiating a lot of development in the school including the construction of a three-classroom block and a Special Needs project funded by the British Embassy. The PTA supported the project to identify children with perculiar problems for attention and solution with the help of an Education Pyscologist.

Mr Oblie Armah, Vice Chairman of the SMC, who conducted the AED Board round the compound said, "Mr Mosley could not find his way around because of the physical improvement on the campus. "The seed that you sowed has began to bear fruits and now Akwei Memorial is robbing shoulder with the best" with the support of the SMC and PTA. He stated that over 80 per cent of the pupils could read and write while about 80 per cent of the staff were computer literate and said admissions to the tertiary level of education from the school had increased.

Mr Obilie Armah said the SMC and the PTA had plans to establish a two-year kindergarten, a French Language Club and to employ some teachers to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio. The Chairman of the School Management Committee (SMC), Mr Daniel Okai, speaking to the Ghana News Agency said as part of measures to make the school campus "Child friendly" a Food Vendors project had been initiated to keep an eye on the feeding of the pupils and to provide meals for the needy ones. He expressed concern about the transfer of four experienced teachers of the School and appealed to the Accra Metropolitan Directorate of Education to "spare community schools of such shocks".