KUTUNG GETS EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTRE (PAGE 26)

CHILDREN at Kutung, a farming community in the Gushiegu District in the Northern Region would no longer study under trees and sheds.
This follows the inauguration of an early childhood development centre valued at GH¢36,477 for the community.
The Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), a non-governmental organisation, funded it while its local partner, Markaz Al Bishara, executed the project.
The facility is equipped with two rainwater harvesting tanks with a capacity of 30,000 litres, a feeding centre, furniture and play equipment.
It is envisaged that the facility would help address the situation where children travel to other communities like Kpatinga and Gushegu to attend school.
Inaugurating the centre, the Country Director of the CCFC, Mrs Sanatu Nantogma, stated that the facility was to complement the government’s efforts at “meeting the needs of all children of school age in Kutung”.
According to her, a late philanthropist in Canada funded the project, adding that the facility was named after the deceased son, Bill Proctor.
The director expressed optimism that her outfit would “continue to partner other organisations to bring similar facilities to children in deprived communities so that no child would be left out of the loop of free and compulsory education for all”.
“It is our hope that when this is done, there would be a 50 per cent increase in enrolment and retention of children in schools and equal percentage of girls will be in school,” Mrs Nangtoma added.
She said it was the vision of her outfit to ensure that 1,350 schoolchildren had enough furniture and play equipment for effective teaching and learning while making sure that the children were served hot lunch every school day.
Mrs Nangtoma further observed that the Kutung community was “plagued with a myriad of development problems such as very low literacy rate due to lack of proper educational facilities, lack of safe drinking water, food security and lack of skills and credit for income generating activities”.
The Gushegu District Director of Education, Mr Edward Asakya, noted that the government alone could not provide all the necessary educational facilities to all communities and, therefore, urged NGOs to support efforts to ensure quality education in the country.
He, therefore, commended the CCFC and its partners for complementing government’s efforts to provide a school block for the beneficiary community.
The District Chief Executive, Mr Abukari Mahama, in a speech read on his behalf, entreated parents in the area to send their children to school, stressing that “educating your children is the wisest decision any parent can take”.