Tamale, July 16, GNA - The Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) has donated teaching and learning materials valued at over 2,000 Canadian dollars to some deprived schools in the Tamale Metropolis and its environs. The beneficiary schools include: the Choggu Manyili ullum Dintyat primary and kindergarten, kasalgu Nida-ul M/A primary, Kpene M/A primary, Al-Azaharia primary, Kumbunayili Suabiriya primary and the Gurugu new settlement primary school. The Upper West and Brong-Ahafo regions would also benefit from the package.

Ms. Debbie Marvis Maybee, Team Leader of the CTF and Jeanne Buckley, a member of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association (OECT), made the presentation. Ms. Maybee said she sourced funding for the purchase of the materials through the School Board of Nova Scotia in Canada. She said the CTF realized the importance of students having access to a variety of reading materials and expressed the hope the items would help encourage and motivate both teachers and students to put in their best.

Mr. John Nyoagbe, Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), said the donation was made possible through the Social Development in Education Project (SDEP), a joint collaboration initiated by the CTF, GNAT and Nkabom to address problems in deprived schools. He said as a developing country, Ghana faced challenges in the education sector in areas such as the provision of school uniforms, school materials and feeding and it was in the light of these that such interventions are needed to assist deprived schools. He said such initiatives are also aimed at removing barriers so that children in deprived communities are enrolled and retained in schools. Mr. Ouedrago Isaac, Headmaster of the Kumbunayili Suabiriya Islamic Primary School thanked the CTF and the OECTA for the donation on behalf of the beneficiaries.