Wa, July 16, GNA – The Wa Methodist School for the Blind, has appealed to government, non-governmental and corporate organisations, as well as public spirited individuals to come to its aid.
The school has had two of its dormitories burned down in less than three months this year, destroying all the belongings of the students and causing the school authorities to cramp students in its few available structures.
Mr Sampson Akurugu, Headmaster, said the school was in dire need of educational materials, basic essentials, such as cloths, mattresses and office equipment, to enable it to run its administration and also enhance quality teaching and learning.
The predicament of the school had been heightened following the two disasters and therefore the authorities and students would welcome and appreciate any form of assistance that would help alleviate their suffering, he said.
Mr Akurugu made the appeal when a benevolent organisation, KPMG Ghana, donated a photocopier, five bags of rice, two bags of sugar, 12 crates of milk, two gallons of cooking oil and three gallons of disinfectant soap for the upkeep of the students.
The items cost the organisation GHC9,000.
He said KPMG has for the past years been helping the school with educational materials and other essentials, but last year promised to provide a photocopier to help strengthen its administration operations.
He said the organisation had become a friend of the school and upon hearing of the disaster, donated the machine and other essentials and called on other benevolent organisation to emulate KPMG.
The provision of the photocopier would help cut cost on its administrative finances and improve its quality of work.
Madam Dorothy Donkor, Marketing Manager of KPMG, an International Audit Firm, said her company was moved by the plight of the students and staff and decided to support them,as part of its corporate citizenship initiative.
She said the Firm had over the years made donations in the form of learning aids, including transcribed Braille books and a Braille embosser to the school, valued more than GHC50,000.
The initiative to support the school began after the Society for the Blind in Accra made it public, the desperate situation in the school, where students were in dire need of basic teaching and learning tools.
Madam Donkor said the visually impaired needed special equipment and materials in everyday life, but noted that those essential equipment and materials required were not produced in the country and needed to be imported at a high cost.
She noted that the costs of those equipments were too high for most parents and called for support from organisations to help cushion their financial burdens.
“Most schools in Ghana are ill-equipped for the special needs of the physically challenged and the situation is no different for the visually impaired in the Wa School for the Blind,” Madam Donkor said.
A student of the School, Master Dakora Bayor said KPMG donation’s was most welcome since it made the students feel that Ghanaians care for their children at all times.
Some of the students mentioned to the Ghana News Agency that, last week there was nearly another fire outbreak at the Administrative block of the school and suggested that immediate steps be taken to rewire the school to reduce fire incidents.
