Pencils of Promise, Fidelity Bank transform Ogome Anglican Basic School

The Ogome Anglican Basic School in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of the Eastern Region has received major infrastructural improvements following a partnership between Pencils of Promise (PoP) and Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited.

The project, implemented under Fidelity Bank’s Orange Impact Initiative, includes the construction of a new two-unit classroom block with an office and store, renovation of an existing six-unit classroom block, construction of an eight-unit water closet facility and a four-unit urinal.

The intervention also included the renovation of the school’s computer laboratory, provision of water storage facilities and support towards the drilling of a borehole to improve access to water.

The facilities are expected to benefit about 310 learners and provide a safer and more conducive environment for teaching and learning.

Speaking at the inauguration, Country Director of Pencils of Promise, Freeman Gobah, said the project represented an investment not only in physical infrastructure but also in the future of children in the Ogome community.

He said Pencils of Promise had constructed 210 classroom blocks across the Volta, Eastern and Oti regions since 2012, creating learning opportunities for more than 50,000 learners.

According to him, the organisation’s interventions also include water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, learning materials and programmes aimed at improving literacy outcomes.

Gobah said the Ogome project was particularly significant because the partnership with Fidelity Bank had gone beyond the initial construction of a kindergarten block to address other infrastructure challenges identified at the school.

“The ultimate goal is not the building itself. Our goal is the child whose life will be changed because of this building,” he said.

He expressed appreciation to Fidelity Bank, the Ghana Education Service, traditional authorities, the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, teachers, parents and the Ogome community for their support.



Chief Support Officer of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Simon Adu-Gyamfi, said the Ogome project was the 15th school intervention undertaken by the bank as part of a commitment to improve educational infrastructure across Ghana.

He said the initiative had reached schools in different parts of the country and impacted more than 5,000 children who previously studied in schools with inadequate or dilapidated infrastructure.

Adu-Gyamfi said Fidelity Bank initially partnered with Pencils of Promise to construct the kindergarten block at Ogome but subsequently decided to support the renovation of other parts of the school after assessing the condition of the existing facilities.

He furthered that the assessment revealed classrooms without adequate windows, doors and furniture, prompting the bank to expand the scope of its intervention.

According to him, the project was intended to give learners the confidence to pursue their aspirations in a safe and conducive learning environment.

Adu-Gyamfi further announced that Fidelity Bank would mark its 20th anniversary in October with an initiative to provide 20 solar power systems to selected community hospitals across Ghana.

Representing the Eastern Regional Director of Education, Ivy Asantewa Owusu, the Eastern Regional School Health Education Programme (SHEP) Coordinator of the Ghana Education Service, Godfred Ofoe Caesar, commended Pencils of Promise and Fidelity Bank for complementing government’s efforts in the provision of educational infrastructure.

He said the inclusion of sanitation facilities was particularly important because access to adequate sanitation contributes to the health, dignity and wellbeing of learners and teachers.

Caesar, however, urged the school management, School Management Committee, Parent-Teacher Association, Anglican Church and the wider community to take ownership of the facilities and ensure their proper maintenance.

The SHEP Coordinator added that the completion of the project should be considered the beginning of a collective responsibility to keep the classrooms, furniture and WASH facilities clean and functional.



The Municipal Chief Executive for Yilo Krobo, Francis Addo Akumatey, also expressed appreciation to Pencils of Promise and Fidelity Bank for their intervention.

He recalled that Pencils of Promise had previously undertaken an educational infrastructure project at Klo Agogo in the municipality, describing the interventions as significant support for local education.

Akumatey stressed the need for proper maintenance of the facilities, saying the condition in which beneficiary communities kept donated infrastructure could influence development partners’ willingness to undertake further projects.

He urged teachers, school authorities and community members to protect the facilities and ensure that they remained useful to future generations.

The Chairman of the occasion and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development, Professor Eric Nyarko-Sampson, also commended the partners and other contributors whose interventions helped transform the school’s learning environment.

The school authorities expressed appreciation to the Yilo Krobo Municipal Assembly, traditional authorities, the Anglican Church, parents, teachers, the School Management Committee and other stakeholders for supporting the project.

The school also appealed for additional computers and furniture to fully equip its renovated computer laboratory.