AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) has commissioned a number of school classroom blocks and teachers housing units in the Obuasi region as part of its commitment to promoting education access in the communities where it operates.
The school buildings and teachers’ accommodation, valued at around GHC600,000, were commissioned Friday at a ceremony attended by stakeholders, AGA executives and school children from the surrounding districts.
Work on the projects began last year after a formal sod-cutting ceremony.
“We are focusing on education because it is the key to the opportunities in this tough and highly competitive world. We can improve our circumstances, uplift ourselves from poverty and become what we want to be if we take advantage of what modern education can offer us”, Fred Attakumah, Managing Director of AGA’s Obuasi Mine, said.
Over the years, AngloGold Ashanti has supported a variety of educational projects and built more than 12 schools for the people in the communities of the Obuasi mine.
The firm sponsors the AngloGold Ashanti/ Kwame Nkrumah Lectures, which are organised annually with The Institute of African Studies of the University of Ghana, Legon.
Disbursements from the fund have also been used to build a hostel for the Komfo Anokye Medical School and to donate hundreds of computers and eight mini buses to schools in the area.
AGA set up the 'AGA Obuasi Community Trust Fund’ in September 2011 with seed funds of US$2.5M.
The fund seeks to strengthen the social contract between AGA and its communities by improving living conditions.
