Jukwa (C/R) Nov. 30, GNA - Mr. Anthony Osei, Headteacher of the Jukwa District Assembly Junior Secondary School (JSS), on Tuesday appealed to the Twifo-Hemang-Lower-Denkyira District Assembly to provide a new building block for the school to avoid an imminent disaster. Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency at Jukwa, Mr. Osei said the school building constructed in 1950 had become "a death trap." He said because of the deplorable state of the building, one of its pillars collapsed two years ago during which one of the students received serious injuries.

Mr Osei said although some officials from the assembly inspected the building after the incident, nothing had been done and persistent appeals had "fallen on deaf ears."

He said the building had now developed deep cracks, while the roofing sheets had rusted and leaking affecting teaching and learning especially during the rains.

On academic performance, Mr. Osei said only four out of the 25 candidates presented for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) this year failed.

An NGO spends one billion cedis on development projects in Upper West Gyilli(UWR), Nov.30, GNA - The management of Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), a Ghanaian Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) spent about one billion cedis on development projects in some communities within the Upper West Region this year. The projects included Agro-processing industries, bullock ploughing with their accessories for the private sector, provision of boreholes and household places of convenience and teachers' quarters. Mrs. Helen Koranteng, Assistant Project Manager of CEDEP announced this at Gyilli in the Nadowli District during the inauguration of one of the projects.

She said about 340 million cedis was also given as credit to the people, particularly women to undertake income generating activities and to finance the education of their children. Mrs. Koranteng said CEDEP assisted 1,765 women from 68 groups in five districts within the region with loans under the Poverty Alleviation and Advocacy Programme.

Mr. Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister appealed to the beneficiary communities to maintain the facilities to encourage CEDEP to assist other communities within the region. He commended CEDEP for the women empowerment programmes that would not only reduce poverty in rural areas but also empower women financially to contribute effectively to development in their areas. Mr. Charles Sakyi, Deputy Executive Director of CEDEP said their development agenda would continue to encompass gender equity, good governance and the eradication of poverty in the rural areas of the country.

He said anti-violence programmes would also be executed to liberate the women from the frequent mental torture in their homes and make them more viable and useful in society.