Mrs Matilda Amissah Arthur, the Second Lady, has donated library materials to support teaching and learning at Kogle Primary and Junior High School (JHS)in the Nandom District of the Upper West Region.
The items included 10 laptops each with a UPS, undisclosed number of story books, text books, exercise books, pens, pencils and mathematical sets.
Mrs Amissah Arthur advised the pupils not to allow deprivation to be an obstacle to their education and put in extra effort in learning in order to help add value to their lives.
She urged the pupils to cultivate the habit of reading, saying “as you read, you learn good values and principles, which can help you, go far”.
Mrs Amissah Arthur called on the education authorities to motivate teachers especially those in the rural areas so that they could put in their best to guide the pupils to learn.
The Second Lady advised parents whether educated or uneducated to pay attention to the children of their education, adding that the only way to secure a better future for their children is through education.
Mrs Amissah Arthur noted that committing the books to effective use to achieve results is the only way that could motivate her to bring more when the old ones get worn-out.
On the dilapidated structures of the school, the Second Lady appealed to the old students to contribute to renovate them, saying she would contribute towards the efforts.
Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister commended the Second Lady’s commitment to the enhancement of education in the country through the donation of learning materials to various schools.
The Regional Minister noted that in the past, the Region was among the top in terms of education performance but currently the trend had changed.
Alhaji Sulemana therefore appealed to chiefs, parents, teachers and politicians to show more concern to address the situation.
“Let’s value education and make sure that we use our resources to educate the children”, he said.
Professor D. D. Kuupole, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast who is also a native of Kogle and the influential person behind the donation thanked the Second Lady for listening to his cry and following it up with the donation.
He said out of the 27 JHSs in the district, four of them scored zero in the 2012/2013 academic year while two schools also scored zero in the 2013/2014 academic year.
Prof Kuupole who established a library for the school last year with the help of EPP Books challenged the teachers not to allow the books to sleep on the shelves but rather ensure that the pupils put them to judicious use to help improve performance.
He appealed to his colleagues who have the means to come back and support not only in the education sector but other equally important development areas in order to make life a bit comfortable to the people.
