Volta GNAT Provides Modern Kindergarten For Bokorvikorpe

From Samuel Agbewode

The Volta Region branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF), have coordinated activities and provided a modern classroom for the Bokorvikorpe Kindergarten (KG) in the Awudome traditional area, near Tsito in the Ho West District.

This was made possible after the Volta Region GNAT and CTF representatives visited the community, and upon seeing the poor school environment, decided to invest in the project.

The GH¢21,000 two-unit classroom block was successfully completed through the support and cooperation of the two teachers’ bodies and the elders and people of the community.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the facility, a Deputy Director of GNAT, Mr. John Nyoagbe, lauded the sound collaboration between the two organisations.

He further noted that the organisations in Ghana and Canada were committed to programmes and activities that would ensure that the two countries mutually benefit from programmes and activities that would promote education.

Mr. Nyoagbe stressed that education was the key to the development of every nation, because without effective education, no development could take place, and that the education of children at the kindergarten level ought to be regarded as crucial.

He said education should be seen as the collective responsibility of all, and that all stakeholders should play their respective roles to ensure that education, particularly at the KG level, was not relegated to the background.

He advised that parents ought to see their children as their greatest assets, and equally invest in them, in order for them to be adequately prepared for the future.

A representative of the CTF, Mr. Burris Devanney, lauded the leadership style of GNAT in Ghana, and the Volta Region branch in particular, and described the new KG building as one of the finest building in the country.

He said that it was very important for the people to work hard to ensure the accelerated development of their communities.

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Mr. Emmanuel Keteku, noted that it was important to address a major problem confronting education in the region, which, he pointed out, was the high number of pupils to the extent that 48 pupils were in each class in some schools, instead of the normal 35 to a teacher.

Mr. Keteku pointed out that the situation did not help in ensuring effective teaching and learning, and stressed that the role being played by the two teacher organisations was laudable, which would go a long way to create an enabling environment for teaching and learning in schools, as well as help to attract more children to school.

The Volta Regional Director of Education used the opportunity and advised the members of the community and the school authorities to adopt a sound maintenance culture that would ensure that the new school infrastructure had a longer lifespan to the benefit of the people.

The Member of Parliament for Ho West, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah, also thanked GNAT for its preparedness to complement the government’s efforts to provide modern classroom blocks for schools.

He said that it was in view of this that a six-unit classroom block was provided for the Bokorvikorpe Local Authority Primary School, which has a population of 157, under the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to create an enabling environment to promote teaching and learning.

In a related development, the Assembly Member for the Dededo Electoral Area, Mr. Hope Anagonu, who thanked GNAT and the CTF, noted that it was laudable that problems confronting education in the Bokorvikope community were being addressed, but said that a lot more still needed to be done in making life more comfortable for the people.

Mr. Anagonu said the three-kilometre road to the community should be constructed to open up the area, which was a major food producing area in the Ho West District.

He added that as a result of the lack of a good access road to the community, the farmers found it very difficult to transport their farm produce to market centers.

The worried looking Assembly Member disclosed that 30 pupils from classes one to five were not able to attend school from DakeKorpe and Andokorpe near Bokorvikorpe, because of the lack of a bridge over the Tsawe River, which often overflows its banks during the rainy season.

Mr. Anagonu disclosed that four school children who attempted to cross the Tsawe River drowned, whilst three other children fell from a wooden bridge constructed over the river by the people during the dry season, and suffered various degrees of injury.

 

CAPTION:

Pix One: The newly constructed Kindergarten building for the Bokorvikope community

Pix Two: The representative of CTF presenting mats and pillows to the Ho Municipal Director of Education (left) receiving the items on behalf of the school

Pix Three: Members of the community at the inaugural ceremony at Bokorvikorpe

Pix: Four: The dangerous bridge that prevents pupils from attending school during the rainy season , which claimed the life of four pupils from Dakekorpe and Andokorpe and inflicted various degree of injury on three other children who fell from it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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