Society presents 80 million cedis educational materials to pupils

Abetifi (E/R), Nov. 6, GNA - The Abetifi Men's League (AML), a benevolent society made up of male citizens of Abetifi resident in Accra and Abetifi has presented 16,200 exercise books, a quantity of ball-point pens, pencils and a quantity of cooking utensils worth 80 million cedis to pupils in eleven basic schools and 115 teachers in the town.

Every basic school pupils from kindergarten to JSS will receive five exercise books, two pens and pencils each, while the teachers will also receive a set of three bowls as incentive to help improve the standard of education in the town.

In an address at the ceremony at Abetifi on Saturday, Mr Kofi Owusu, secretary, said the AML had been awarding scholarships to needy but brilliant basic school children in the town for the past ten years but it had to go into the provision of learning materials following the introduction of the capitation grant while efforts were being made to assist students in second cycle schools in the town.

He said as a non-governmental organisation (NGO), it was their responsibility to sustain the development of the community and contribute towards the education of the younger generation. Mr Owusu said the community had one of the best educational structures in the area, including basic and second-cycle level, a technical and vocational institution, a training college and a university.

For this reason, he said, the children should be assisted to make effective use of those institutions for them to contribute towards the development of the country.

The Kwahu South District Chief Executive (DCE), Nana Kofi Onwona Asante, said education played a significant role in every nation's development and urged parents to provide school uniforms and other educational needs to supplement government's efforts to educate the children.

He said textbooks would soon be supplied to all basic schools and urged teachers to take advantage of the assistance to improve the standard of education in the town.

The DCE said the Assembly would co-operate with the Kwahu Traditional Council to establish an educational endowment fund to provide infrastructure and financial assistance to cater for educational needs of brilliant but needy children in the traditional area. The Abetifihene Nana Asiedu Agyemang, III, commended the society for their contributions to the education, health, sanitation and water sectors in the community and urged them to assist to construct an ICT clinic in the town to enhance the performances of the large number of school children and students of the Presbyterian University College. He appealed to the government to improve the supply of potable water to communities on the Kwahu Ridge.

On behalf of the teachers, Mr Daniel Amankwaa, Headteacher of the Presbyterian Primary School, thanked the society for the assistance and advised parents to provide their wards with essential learning aids, since some parents were refusing to provide exercise books and pens for their wards saying that the government was catering for them within the capitation grant.