Cerebral Palsy patient provides education for less privileged - Makes it to MTN Heroes finals

Nominee: Yaw Rockson Adangabey, 32 years
Occupation: School Proprietor
Town: Gbedema (Builsa South) 
Project: Establishment of schools to serve the less privileged (Adangabey Royal Int. School)
Category: Education

What is your motivation?
I believe it is my calling to help provide better and quality education for children in rural communities and to be a motivation to less privileged and people living with disabilities. 

Being a cerebral palsy patient who has overcome all barriers to attain a high level of formal education, it hurts to see abled children denied the opportunity to have a good start to their education. This moved me to establish a preparatory school in my hometown, Kadema. I later learnt about a rural town, Gbedema, which has only one government school serving the whole district.

The government school only admits children five years and above. I decided to establish Adangbey Royal International School, which seeks to serve school-going children as young as two years old.

Explain your project
I established the Adangbey Royal International School, the first-ever private school in the Builsa South communities, to encourage parents to put their children in school at an early age. Building a good early foundation for our children is our goal.

Currently, we operate in a rented two-bedroom house, with classes starting from nursery, kindergarten, primary one to four. Parents pay fees of GH₵120 and below. Children are not sent away for non-payment. There is a flexible payment structure unique to each parent.

How much impact has your project had?
The facility has been able to provide education for about 160 children so far. And I hope to extend the same to other children from less privileged families in faraway communities, to give them hope for the future.

How do you feel when you see your impact?
 I feel very happy and fulfilled knowing that I have made it possible for the children to attend school, which is an opportunity for them to grow into responsible citizens who will someday give back to their communities.

Do you have any plans for the future?
My vision is to grow this facility into one that would be able to locate and provide free education for physically challenged children.  And, if possible, establish more schools in other deprived communities.  I started a similar project in my home village in Kadema and have since handed it over to the community to manage and it is still supervised by me.