Akyem Apaaso (E/R) Oct. 29 GNA - Five hundred and four basic school children in four schools in the Birim South District were on Thursday presented with free school uniforms, supplementary readers and stationery= by a number Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) at separate functions. The NGOs included; Herald Foundation at Akyem Awisa; UMEA City FFRK, a Rotary club and Siemens Financial Services, both of Sweden; presented the=

items to schoolchildren at Akyem Apaaso Salvation Army; Akyem Awisa Methodist and Akyem Awisa Presbyterian Primary and Junior High Schools (J= HS) and Akyem Asawase Methodist Kindergarten. Mr Samuel Appiah-Kubi, Chairman, Ghana Union UMEA Sweden, and Mr Kwe= si Ahinkorah Anti, Coordinator, Herald Foundation, who jointly presented the=

items on behalf of the organizations, said the gesture was aimed at encouraging parents to send their children to school. Mr Appiah-Kubi appealed to parents to take more responsibility of the= ir children and to invest heavily in their education. He announced that Siemens Financial Services was sponsoring 160 schoo= l children at Akyem Apaaso Salvation Army Primary and JHS while UMEA City F= FRK was sponsoring 15 girls from Akyem Awisa in Community Nursing Training Schools at Akyem Oda and Atibie. Mr Fred Dwamena, Headmaster of Apaaso Salvation Army JHS, on behalf of the schools thanked the organizations for the gesture. He said the presentation had come at the right time when many parents=

were finding it difficult to provide their children with school uniforms resulting in most of the children not being able to attend school. Ms Akosua Agyapong, a single parent, whose two children were beneficiaries of the free uniforms, told the GNA that the presentation ha= d relieved her of a major headache. She thanked the NGOs for their spirit of patriotism and urged others to emulate them to ensure that more children from poor homes got access to education.