The Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District Assembly in the Savannah Region has instituted a programme to renovate old and dilapidated schools and those ripped off by storms to improve access to education in the area.

Mr Lawal Tamimu, District Chief Executive for Sawla-Tuna-Kalba, said the programme was instituted because of the importance of education in unlocking potentials of people, adding that so far, a number of schools in the area including Sawla D/A Primary, Changbalayiri Primary, Korle Primary and Jentilpe Junior High School have been renovated.

He was speaking during the Assembly’s Meet-The-Press event at Sawla on Friday to give an account of its activities since 2017 when the government assumed power.

Mr Tamimu said the Assembly has also supplied 250 dual desks to a number of schools in the area to help address the furniture situation at the various schools, indicating that efforts were being made to procure more furniture for distribution to the schools.

He said a number of graduates have been recruited under the Nation Builders’ Corps to help in teaching in schools in the area to help improve on teaching and learning, urging parents to complement the efforts of the Assembly by supporting their children to improve on their performance.

Mr Tamimu also spoke about the health sector saying: “My Administration is putting in place measures to complete and equip the uncompleted CHPS Compounds to be put to use. These CHPS Compounds include Kong, Soma, and Nahari”.

He announced that as part of the one million dollar per constituency initiative, which had started in the area, “The district is benefitting from some toilet facilities in various communities. These include Tuna and Sawla”.

He said the Assembly, with support from development partners, has also constructed mechanised boreholes in over 20 selected communities in the area including Josenteyiri, Nahari, Jobiyiri, Jang, Gindabo, Jelinkon and Kunfusi to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene.

He said work on 10 dams initiated in the area as part of the one-village one-dam intervention were at various stages of completion in communities including Nasoyiri, Jentilpe, Sawla and Digzie, which would ensure availability of water for agricultural purposes.

Mr Tamimu also touched on agriculture, saying a number of farmers are benefiting from the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programme, ‘Planting for Export and Rearing for Food and Jobs’, which would help boost food production and increase incomes of farmers in the area.

He assured the residents that efforts were being made to improve security in the area and reduce the incidence of armed robbery attacks in the area.