Half-Assini (W/R), Nov. 10, GNA - The rehabilitated and refurbished science resource centre of the Half-Assini Senior High School, in the Jomoro district, was at the weekend inaugurated by Mr Ato Essuman, Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The project was undertaken by Tullow Ghana Limited, an oil and gas exploration and production company at the cost of 80,000 US dollars. The inauguration coincided with the 48th anniversary and awards day celebration of the school.

Mr Kofi Esson, Country Manager of Tullow Ghana, said the project was part of the company's social responsibility to the people and to complement government's efforts to promote quality education particularly science education, which is regarded as a catalyst to achieve accelerated economic growth. The refurbished centre, Mr Esson hoped, would encourage more students to take interest in the study of science as a subject and also study petrol-chemical and other science related subjects to find gainful employment with industries that would be established in the Western Region as a result of the oil find. Mr Esson enumerated the importance science plays in the everyday life of individual and the society as a whole and advised students to take full advantage of the facility to acquire useful knowledge for the benefit of society.

He advised them to take good care of materials and equipment at the centre to ensure that they derive maximum benefit of the facility. In its efforts to provide potable water for the people, Tullow, since 2007 had provided 12 mechanized and hand-pump wells for some communities in the Jomoro district and the number would be increased to 30 by the end of this year.

Mr Essuman, Chief Director of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports expressed the Government's gratitude to Tullow for undertaking the project and suggested to the Board of Directors of the school to name the science block after Tullow Ghana Limited, to encourage other organizations to support education within communities that they operate. He said about 85 per cent of the Ministry's budgetary allocation goes into salaries, service and administration, leaving "very little for investment" in important areas such as science. Mr Essuman said Tullow's foresight to support science education was in the right direction.

Earlier, Mr Elijah Nkrumah, Assistant Headmaster of the school, noted that the ill-equipped and state of disrepair of the centre adversely affected teaching and learning of science in the school, and said with the investment made by Tullow, the trend would change. 10 Nov 08