First Lady inaugurates dining hall, kitchen for Jakpa RC Primary School
The First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama, has called on parents, traditional leaders and community members to take keen interest in what goes on in their various schools and make the education of their children the number one priority.
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She said it was important for parents to encourage the young ones to take advantage of the many interventions the government was currently implementing to improve on the quality of education.
Mrs Mahama stated that education was key to social progress when she inaugurated a 100-seating capacity dining hall and a kitchen at the Jakpa RC Primary School in the Chereponi District in the Northern Region.
Lordina Foundation
The facility, initiated by the Lordina Foundation and funded by Savannah Diamond Company Limited, is to provide a convenient place for the preparation of food, as well as a place where the schoolchildren can comfortably have their meals.
The First Lady said the construction of the dining hall and kitchen was important because there was the need to create a conducive environment for the young ones to learn and grow.
She said a major factor in encouraging many parents to send their children to school was the school feeding programme which commenced in 2005, with the intermediate objective of reducing hunger and malnutrition, increasing school enrolment, retaining attendance and boosting local food production.
School-Feeding
She said the school feeding programme, which covered 441,189 children in 2008, had expanded to cover more than 1.7 million children and was supporting many parents, particularly in deprived communities, to provide one meal a day for their children.
Mrs Mahama added that it was important that those meals were served in a safe and hygienic environment and it was for that reason that the Lordina Foundation had taken upon itself to complement the government’s effort by facilitating the construction of the facilities for the Chereponi School.
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The First Lady encouraged the schoolchildren to take their studies seriously.
She expressed her profound gratitude to the management and staff of Savannah Diamond Company Limited for their support in making the project a reality.
For her part, the Corporate Group Head of Savannah Diamond Group of Companies, Mrs Angela Ellen Jonah, said the project formed part of the corporate social responsibility of the company.
Social responsibility
She said the company believed in the philosophy that industries had social responsibilities to give back to societies what they had benefitted from them.
The Paramount Chief of Chereponi, Jaminja Malba Gomna II, expressed his appreciation to President Mahama for ensuring that Ghanaians from all walks of life had a share of the national cake.
He said several communities in Chereponi had been connected to the national grid and also now had potable water.
He said CHPS compounds had also been constructed in a number of communities to make healthcare delivery accessible to the people of the area. He appealed to the government to construct the main road in the town.