Akyem, (W/R) May 23, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Kwesi Ayensu, Wassa West District Chief Executive (DCE), has commissioned a 90-million- cedi block of four classrooms financed by the Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) at a ceremony at Akyem near Tarkwa.

Mr Ayensu appealed to the Wassa community to make education a priority because education is the key to development. He expressed regret about the attitude of some parents who do not show any interest in the education of their children and urged them to provide the children with their basic school needs.

Mr. Ayensu encouraged the children to make good use of the facility by making regular attendance to school and appealed to the community to offer regular maintenance to the facility for other generations to benefit from it.

Mr Jorgen Eijendaal, Managing Director, said his company placed much premium on the development of communities in its catchment's area. He pledged to do more for the communities to help raise the living standard of the people.

Mr. Eijendaal said the provision of the school was to allow every child in the community to have a fair chance of becoming someone in the future as education held the key.

Mr. Rexford Agyeman, Administrative Manager, said the company voted one billion cedis for developmental activities for the 16 communities in its area of operation as part of its social responsibility. He explained that projects were undertaken based on the request of the particular community adding that the company supplied materials and the community also offered communal labour as a compliment.

Mr. Agyeman said as part of the Alternative Livelihood Projects, (ALP) 80 persons had been trained in snail breeding and they would in turn train others.

He said two people drawn from each community would also be trained in grass-cutter rearing.

Mr. Abraham Donkor, headteacher of the Methodist school appealed to the company to extend electricity to the school to enable the children to benefit from the President's Special Initiative (PSI) on distance learning and a computer to enlighten the children on the application of modern information technology.

He appealed to the company to support needy but brilliant pupils in both the primary and junior secondary schools in the area. Mr Donkor urged the company to provide staff quarters to ease accommodation problem facing teachers in addition to the completion of a JSS block.

Mr Anthony Kwofie, Development and Planning Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES), assured the school authorities of the provision of furniture and a lavatory.

Nana Banyin, regent of the town, thanked the company for keeping their promise in providing them with the school and the assistance given them towards their electrification project among others. 23 May 05