Six-unit classroom block for Asikabew Methodist Primary
The Blue Skies Company Limited has supported the Asikabew Methodist Primary School at the Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipality in the Eastern Region with a new six-unit classroom block at a cost of GH¢470,000.
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The block, with an ICT centre and staff common room, was constructed by the company as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to impact positively on people in its operating communities and surroundings.
Constructed about 40 years ago, the Asikabew Methodist Primary school lacks maintenance, leaving the building, which had developed cracks, in a dilapidated state, and subsequently abandoned by teachers and pupils.
Classes were consequently held under trees which made a number of the pupils to desert the school.
For the past 10 years, teaching and learning took place in the dilapidated building. The authorities of the school, therefore, wrote to the Blue Skies Company Limited for support and the project was undertaken through the company’s foundation.
Inauguration
In his remarks at the inauguration of the project, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Nsawam Adoagyiri, Mr Isaac Kwodjo Buabeng, noted that the government prioritised education that was why it had started some policies such as the Free SHS and school feeding to alleviate the plight of Ghanaians.
“We have all come to know that education is very important for every nation and Ghana as a country, through the help of government, was doing its best to improve on education to the highest level and also make it accessible for Ghanaians,” he added.
Mr Buabeng said the modern facilities were not only to improve the school’s physical environment but also its learning culture, stressing that “it is the human spirit and interaction between teachers, students and parents which will make the difference and ensure the new building support higher levels of learning.”
Inaugurating the block, the Director of Corporate Affairs at Blue Skies, Mr Alistair Djimatey, said the provision of quality education was critical for a country that needed well-educated people to develop, adding that “you can all bear with me that most of our developed countries have some standard of education.”
Agric sector
Mr Djimatey stated that according to the policy document of the government’s one-district, one-factory programme, 70 per cent of its success was dependent on agriculture, yet the country paid lip service to the sector.
He emphasised that, “We are all aware that the agenda, according to that policy, is based on agriculture but as you can see, the sector is not given full attention to help achieve the policy. If we will just use our mouth in trying to convince the people without letting them know how we can improve our agriculture sector, then we will achieve nothing.”
He called for a change so as to enable the country to produce more to feed the industries so they can employ more people.
Appreciation
The Headmaster of the school, Mr Evans Lartey, expressed his appreciation to the company for its initiative and assured the foundation that they would set up a committee with the mandate of seeing to the regular maintenance of the structure.
Mr Lartey appealed for the provision of potable water for both teachers and pupils in the school since water was scarce in the area.
The Nsawam Adoagyiri Municipal Director of Education, Ms Jayne Asantewa Anaman, thanked Blue Skies for the support, adding that it would serve as motivation for both teachers and pupils.