Ernst and Young gives back to society
ERNST and Young (EY) Ghana, as part of its Ripples Programme, has supported the St Augustine Anglican Primary School with school uniforms, stationery, cash, school bags, and other items.
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The Ripples programme is EY’s Global Corporate Responsibility programme that brings together the global EY network in an effort to achieve one shared vision and positively impact one billion lives by 2030.
At a ceremony to hand over the items to the school, Assurance Partner at EY Ghana, Pamela Des-Bordes, said at the beginning of every July which is its new financial year, it gives back to the society.
“This year, we put together a committee and this school came up. We came here to ask of their needs and because we wanted to do something that impacted lives we asked the teachers, head mistress and even some of the children and it came out clearly that they needed uniforms.”
“The uniforms of some of the students were in very bad conditions and some did not have at all. They were also in the process of introducing new uniforms so we decided to support that project,” she explained.
She said the school itself came out with specific names of student who needed the uniforms and the company provided for all of them.
Good impact
The Headmistress of the school, Hannah Aforiwaa Ayeson, for her part, said the donation would make a huge impact on the children, especially those whose uniforms are worn out and therefore do not even come to school.
She said that would encourage those who were staying home because of uniforms to also come, a situation she said would help increase enrolment.
Commenting on the criteria for selecting the student who benefitted from the donation, she said “we observed the children. There are some who have been wearing the same uniform from class one till class six. Some of the girls have their uniforms just above their knees so these were the considerations we looked at.”
The District Education Officer, Pierrette Matanawui, commended EY for supporting the country’s educational sector over the years.
She said EY has been supporting students across the country, offering some with valuable mentorship programmes.
“We have more of our students coming from very deprived homes and uniforms is a problem. Those whose uniforms are worn out always feel intimated and are always not happy so this will encourage them to now come to school.”
“Some of the students even come to school to enrol without the consent of their parents. They follow their friends here and we enrol them and give them support,” she stated.