Akwatia, Feb 10, GNA - The Kwaebibirem Central Integrated Community Centre for Employable Skills (ICCES) has received vocational tools and equipment worth over GH C10, 000. The items, which include tools for carpentry, metal work, building and construction, electrical works and dress making, were critically needed in the centre's program to impact skills to the youth of the Kwaebibirem District to enable them to contribute meaningfully to national development.

The Oduro family of Boadua, presented the items, donated by the Gareed Gereedschap of the Netherlands, which has been assisting institutions in developing countries. Making the presentation at the centre, near Akwatia, Mr Charles Oduro, of the Universal Hospital Supplies Company, said the Netherlands group had promised to offer further assistance to the centre to enhance teaching and learning to improve its educational standards. He expressed profound gratitude to the group, especially Mr Christopher Deventer, the director and Mr Jan Van de Wetering, project manager of the Ghana-Netherlands Rehabilitation and Physio project, for their positive interest in the centre.

The Centre Manager, Mr Stanley Big Joe Mulbah, thanked the donors for their gesture and said the tools would meet some of the felt needs of the centre. The out-going Kwaebibirem District Chief Executive, Mr Yaw Yiadom - Boakye, appealed to the wealthy and philanthropists to contribute substantially to raise the standard of the school so that junior high school graduates who could not make it to the senior high school would be trained to make them gainfully employed.

Mr Yiadom - Boakye appealed to the staff to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship into the students to make them self-reliant and prospective employers. He recalled that under the STEP programme, the centre trained 30 students in various skills such as soap and batik making but expressed regret that none of them was able to set up a business. He advised authorities of the centre as well as the students to handle the tools and the equipment well so as to prolong their life span.