Philanthropist gives books to Sakumono schools
The President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Mr Carlos Ahenkorah, has donated exercise books, pens and school bags to junior high school pupils of the Sakumono Wolei TMA cluster of schools.
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Mr Ahenkorah has also presented some cash to cater for the cost of vacation classes, including allwances for teachers, to enable them to complete the BECE syllabus.
The presentation, according to Mr Ahenkorah, formed part of his desire to contribute to the improvement of education in the Sakumono Wolei community.
Performance in BECE
Over the years, schools in deprived fishing communities in the Tema metropolis have recorded low percentage in the Basic Education Certificate Exams (BECE).
Education officials attribute the problem to the inability of parents and guardians to provide the educational needs of the pupils in the community.
“I, therefore, see the organisation of the extra classes as a move that will keep the children busy during this vacation and also enhance their abilities,” Mr Ahenkorah reiterated.
While promising the schools’ management of his support to make the long vacation classes an annual event, Mr Ahenkorah expressed the hope that the pupils would take advantage of the opportunities provided them to improve their performance.
Pass Rate
The Assistant Headmaster of the school, Mr Evans William Mordzinu, indicated that over the last three years, the schools had recorded low pass rate of about 40 per cent in the BECE, stressing that the continued decline in the academic performance of the pupils made the school’s management decide to engage the students in extra classes during vacations.
“However, we realised that most parents and guardians are unable to pay for the vacation classes, resulting in very low turnouts on the part of pupils over the past two years,” Mr Mordzinu explained.
He further explained that majority of the pupils lived with guardians who would not pay their fees.
Appeal to philanthropists
While commending Mr Ahenkorah for the gesture, Mr Mordzinu further appealed to philanthropists to come to the aid of the schools by assisting to construct a wall to ward off intruders who had turned the schools’ compound into a refuse dump.
“The schools’ toilet facilities have been turned into a public place of convenience by members of the community due to the lack of such amenities in the entire Wolei community,” Mr Mordzinu lamented.
He said several appeals to the Tema Metropolitan Assembly(TMA) for support for the provision of a security fence for the school had yielded no response.
He expressed the hope that their calls for assistance would be responded to by corporate institutions and philanthropists in the Tema metropolis.
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