NGO honours learners, teachers for excellence

Ntiamoah Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to health promotion and education development, has honoured 39 pupils and six teachers from five basic schools in Akyem Mamanso at an education support durbar in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region.

The pupils were honoured for excellence in the NGO’s mobile library activities, while the teachers were recognised for providing the inspiration that produced the best learning attitudes from the pupils which helped them to raise their academic standards.

Grand ceremony

At the grand ceremony, the NGO donated various items valued at GH₡80,000 to the beneficiaries.

The items included 10 TV sets, 10 boxes of assorted learning materials, pen drives loaded with educational materials, quantities of stationery and school bags.

Commendation

The District Director of Education, Mr Isaac Kwadwo Okyere, commended the Ntiamoah Foundation for the NGO’s charity gestures, including constructing and renovating classroom blocks, providing health facilities, drugs and consumables, giving incentive packages to teachers and scholarships to student nurses in the district.
He said the NGO’s mobile library had helped to improve on both written and spoken English among the children in the beneficiary schools, saying it had also affected their performances in the other subjects.

Mr Okyere urged other NGOs to emulate Ntiamoah Foundation to offer practical support to schools in the district so that the pupils and students could excel in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and also benefit from the free senior high school (SHS) education.

The District Coordinating Director, Mr Daniel Nkrumah, appealed for external support to finance education in the district, saying the Birim North District Assembly spent 60 per cent of its annual budget on education development.

Criminal activities

He bemoaned the rise in crime among the youth at Mamanso, alleging that the youth committed crime in the area with impunity.

Mr Nkrumah, therefore, urged the community leaders to team up with the police to contain the situation to enable law-abiding citizens to live in the area peacefully.

The Executive Director of Ntiamoah Foundation, Ms Mercy Quansah-Ansah, said the mobile library set up three years ago had currently benefited 17 basic schools in the district, and had transformed the academic performances of their pupils.

She enjoined teachers, parents and guardians to encourage their children to patronise the mobile libraries for them to become responsible intellectuals in the future to help develop the district in particular and Ghana in general.

The Project Officer of Ntiamoah Foundation, Mr Shiva Oppong Banahene, said the mobile library was established to inculcate the habit of reading in basic school pupils and students to also enhance their academic performance.

The function was chaired by the Abusuapanin of Mamanso, Nana Kwabena Owusu, and attended by the Head of Community Development of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ms Vicentia Korantemaa Asante.