Ghana Rubber Estate Limited (GREL), which has large swathes of rubber plantations in the Western Region, has completed and handed over a GH¢594,000.00 10-seater water closet, washrooms, and a mechanised water facility to the GREL Basic School in Abura in the Ahanta West Municipality.
Nana Kwesi Agyemang IX, Omanhene of Lower Dixcove, Awulae Attibrukusu III, Omanhene of Lower Axim, and the Corporate Affairs Manager of GREL, together handed over the facility to the school.
The construction and completion of the facility follows a request from the Parents Teacher Association (PTA) to the rubber company to extend a helping hand to the school by way of providing the facility.
The handing over of the facility comes exactly two weeks after the rubber company distributed free school uniforms and bags to some educational institutions within its host communities.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of GREL, Perry Acheampong, expressed the hope that the facility would help improve sanitation and hygiene in the school.
He explained that GREL was committed to improving its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the communities it operates in, and improving education, health, sanitation and hygiene, including biodiversity.
Mr. Acheampong, however, indicated that management was aware of the pressure on the school, given its excellent academic record.
For this reason, it decided to build a new GREL Basic School building in Agona-Nkwanta to take the pressure off the school. The construction, he said, should have started this year, but access to land had been a major hurdle, and appealed to the chiefs to help release land for the construction to begin.
The Omanhene of Lower Dixcove, who is also the President of ACLANGO, Nana Kwesi Agyemang IX, admired the facility, and indicated that it was one the best, saying it added to the status of the school.
“There is no way you will get such a facility in any school, not even a Senior High School,” he reminded the beneficiary.
He asked the pupils to take god care of the facility, given that “you are blessed to have such [a] facility in your school.”
For now, he said, it was the responsibility of the teachers and pupils to keep the facility tidy.
The facility, he pointed out, had become the personal property of the school right after commissioning, “so it’s your responsibility to keep it and take good care of it as your personal property.”
Nana Kwesi Agyemang further reminded the authorities that, the edifice had increased the respect and status of the institution, as one of the best Basic Schools in the Municipality.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the area, John Agyare, stated that the rubber company had played a pivotal role in the progress of the Municipality, and had also been instrumental in the area of infrastructural development like reshaping of roads, and provision of water among others.
Turning his attention to the facility, MCE Agyare did not mince words when he said it would help enhance sanitation and a cleaner hygienic environment. “As we commission this facility, let us be reminded that we could not have achieved this without a united front.”
Preset at the commission were Degraft Cudjoe, Circuit Education Supervisor, Francis Andzie Quainoo, Assembly Member, Jude Cudjoe, Community Affairs Manager and other dignitaries.
