Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GGF) has commissioned and formally handed over a 360-bed girls’ dormitory to Hunni-Valley Senior High School (HUNIVAS) at a ceremony over the weekend at Hunni-Valley in the Prestea Hunni-Valley Municipality of the Western Region.
The facility which falls under the Gold Fields Legacy Project is estimated at a cost of $980,000, and has four two-bedroom ensuite apartments for teachers.
That apart, the facility also comes with prefects’ cabins, ironing room, chop box room, and bathrooms. In addition are 180 bunk beds, and a mechanised borehole provided for the comfort of the girls.
As the commissioned facility was one of the legacies of the mine, the Executive Vice President and Head of Gold Fields West Africa, Joshua Motiti, joined other guest such as the Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Suleimanu Konney, Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, Department of Biomedical Engineering of the University of Ghana, as keynote speaker.
Others guest at the programme included Prof. Richard Kwasi Amankwah, Vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Dr. Celestine Ayitey, Vice President Sustainability Development of GGL, and Nana Andoh, an environmental consultant amongst other traditional leaders, including Nana Kwabena Amponsah V, Chief of Bosumtwi.
The Member of Parliament (MP), Wisdom Cudjoe, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Dr. Isaac Drasmani, and the Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah, were also present.
Addressing the gathering, Joshua Motiti stressed that creating enduring value beyond mining was the purpose of Gold Fields.
“This is a profound statement which directs our decisions as a company, and we are committed to creating value which is sustainable and last beyond our mining activities to benefit our stakeholders.”
Joshua Motiti added that since 2004, the mine had invested in socio economic initiatives ensuring that they were relevant, impactful, and sustainable and could change and enhance lives. “Overall, we are pleased to announce Gold Fields has contributed significantly to the economic growth of the country;” supported to improve infrastructural development with the company’s export revenues increasing Ghana export earnings.”
In 2019, Joshua Motiti told the gathering, the Foundation approved the construction of a 360-bed capacity girls’ dormitory with four two-bedroom apartment for teachers at a cost of $980,000.
The intent behind the facility was to help tackle the accommodation deficit for girls in the school, and to reduce the number of female students residing in off campus hostels.
65% of the population of the school, he added, was females, and 371 of them reside in off campus hostels and homes, whilst the remaining 656 were boarders on campus.
“We believe this new facility will help to significantly improve the level of education.”
The Executive Vice President made it known that Gold Fields target was to increase the percentage of females on its mines to 30% by 2030, and the best way to do this was to support the training of girls at the Senior High Schools (SHS) and tertiary levels of education.
Joshua Motiti announced that the mine had made a conscious effort to include more females to also ensure they acquired employable skills to create a pipeline for possible employment. Concluding, he said since its inception, the Foundation had invested $9.5 million in education for the Tarkwa and Damang host communities.
The MP for the area, Robert Wisdom Cudjoe, pointed out that one could not talk about infrastructural development in the municipality without crediting Gold Fields Ghana. He said the mine had proved to be a perfect partner and a stakeholder as far as infrastructural development was concerned.
“There are a lot of infrastructural projects scattered in the municipality that is credited to Gold Fields, and time will not allow me to mention one after the other all the projects – from roads, building of schools, and provision of water amongst many others.” MP Cudjoe, however, pleaded with the school authorities to ensure that the legacy 360-bedroom girls’ dormitory was taken good care of.
Prof. Elsie Kaufmann, who was the Keynote Speaker, described the facility as a conducive environment that would help girls thrive and succeed in their education, because giving access to education without a good environment was not enough.
She advised the school girls most particularly to take their books serious and set a goal for themselves.
Nana Kwabena Amponsah V, Chief of Bosumtwi, who chaired the programme, advised the students that the best legacy they could leave behind as student was to excel in their final examinations.
