Regional News of Sunday, 17 September 2023

Source: Daniel Kaku

OKRA Project Ghana constructs six-unit classroom block for Allengenzule Roman Catholic school

Members of the OKRA Project Ghana posing in front of the six-unit classroom block Members of the OKRA Project Ghana posing in front of the six-unit classroom block

OKRA Project Ghana, a non-governmental organization (NGO), has constructed a six-unit classroom block for Allengenzule Roman Catholic Primary School of Jomoro Municipality in the Western Region.

Allengenzule Roman Catholic Primary School was established in 1946 and this is the time, the school has been gifted a beautiful classroom block.

Schoolchildren and staff of Allengenzule Roman Catholic Primary School have been studying and teaching under mango trees due to inadequate classrooms in the school.

This intervention is aimed at increasing enrollment in the school and also improving the academic performance of the school.

Handing over the keys of the edifice to the management of the school, the Director of OKRA Project Ghana, Cyprus Nii Sackey, revealed that they were informed about the situation in the school by the Chief of Akabaku, Nana Tanoe Blay III and quickly visited the school to observe the situation.

He said, that immediately after their visit, they supplied the school with building materials to complete their already started six-unit classroom block.

He said that the project stalled due to the inability of the school management to raise funds to complete it, hence their intervention.

He took the opportunity, to commend the management of the school for using the building materials to complete the project without diverting a single building material.

"In fact, let me put on record that we never gave a penny to the school management to buy any item, we rather bought all the building materials and gave them to the contractor to complete the project and this is how we do our things so nobody should go anywhere to say we gave money to the school management to complete the building, we didn't do it in that way. Let us pray to God bless the Chief of Akabaku for drawing our attention to the problem facing the school and today we are excited that the schoolchildren will have a nice classroom block to sit in to learn," he said.

He charged the schoolchildren to take their studies seriously and become responsible personalities in future.

"I will tell you schoolchildren here to take your studies seriously so you can become great personalities in Ghana, I challenge you because I'm expecting you to become nurses, doctors and lawyers in the next fifteen years so that you can help me when I'm old," he implored.

He, therefore, promised that OKRA Project Ghana would continue to support other schools in Ghana to reduce schools under trees drastically and also eliminate bad school buildings in the country.

On his part, the headmaster of Allengenzule Roman Catholic primary school, Anlimah Assuah Augustine alias Augustine Pay, commended OKRA Project Ghana for coming to their rescue.

"Although the community members started the project the support OKRA Project Ghana gave to us, we cannot count them, I can say OKRA Project Ghana deserves all the credit. The PTA, SMC and Stakeholders of Allengenzule Roman Catholic primary school wish to express our profound gratitude to OKRA Project Ghana for their humanity which we are unveiling today", he expressed appreciation.

"Today will be remembered in the history book of Allengenzule Roman Catholic primary school as well as the community as a whole. The days of snakes falling on learners and staff are over. The day of the destruction of rain during teaching and learning is over," he added.

"We started this new classroom block this year and we are able to complete it within this year, big thanks go to OKRA Project Ghana, we will not forget our MP, Dorcas Afo-Toffey for also supporting us with money to buy wood to roof it, we also thank the Jomoro Municipal Assembly Coordinating Director for supporting us with some bags of cement, we are most grateful", he stated.

He took the opportunity, to appeal to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Constituency, Dorcas Afo-Toffey and the Jomoro Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Louisa Arde to support the school with furniture.

"Today, we are happy to have a very beautiful six-unit classroom here but we don't have desks in them so we will take this opportunity to appeal to the MP and MCE to support us with furniture", he appealed.

He also took the opportunity to commend the Jomoro MP for constructing potable water for the school.

He thanked Jomoro Municipal Chief Executive for also supporting the school.

The Tufuhene of the Allengenzule community, Francis Kwasi Buah expressed his happiness over the new classroom block.

He assured OKRA Project Ghana that the edifice would be regularly maintained.

He urged parents of the Allengenzule community to invest wisely in their children's education and do away with unnecessary expenses.

"Let me tell parents here that they should stop buying expensive clothes for funerals and use their monies to invest in their children's education. Let me also advise the schoolchildren that they should learn harder so that in future, they will not encounter poverty," he advised.

Moreover, some of the schoolchildren and teaching staff expressed their happiness and called on Almighty God to bless the management of OKRA Project Ghana and others for coming together to construct new classroom blocks for them.