Francisca Oteng Mensah (left) with Mrs. Dora Asare
FRANCISCA OTENG Mensah, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Kwabre East in the Ashanti Region, has donated 550 dual desks to the Municipal Education Directorate, to address the furniture deficit facing schools in the catchment area.
Making the presentation at the forecourt of the Mampongteng Municipal Assembly, the MP said that the gesture was meant to increase school-enrolment and to offer students a sound environment for studies.
The funds for the desks, a One Constituency One Million Dollars initiative, were procured through the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP).
She promised to distribute a total of 5,000 desks to deprived schools in the constituency by the end of her second term in 2024, to enhance teaching and learning in the area.
Ms. Mensah said that it was her commitment to support the development of education in the constituency, and gave the assurance that 4,450 additional dual desks would in the near future, be donated to the municipality for distribution to various schools.
While emphasizing the collaborative efforts being made by political leaders in the area towards making education very accessible, the MP urged parents to encourage their children to attend school regularly.
Apart from improving on educational infrastructure and logistics, Ms. Mensah said that girl-child education was going to be a deliberate feature on her agenda, in the next four years.
Receiving the desks on behalf of the Ghana Education Service, Mrs. Dora Asare, acting Municipal Education Director, observed that the desks could not have come at a better time than now, considering how the COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools with only limited furniture to practice physical distancing. On behalf of the schools, she thanked the MP for her gesture and promised to ensure a judicious use of the desks.
Nana Osei Asibey Bonsu, MCE for Kwabre East, on his part, said that government was doing its maximum best to improve on education, with respect to logistics and infrastructure in his municipality.
FROM David Afum, Kumasi