Ridge Church School launches Trust Fund

The Ridge Church School in Accra has launched a Trust Fund to help the school to undertake new projects and also improve academic work.

The immediate purpose of the Fund, known as the Ridge Church School Trust Fund (RCSTF), is to establish a Senior High School for the school in 2024.

Additionally, the Fund will be used to upgrade the existing facilities of the school, improve academic programmes, and also provide scholarship opportunities for deserving students of the school.

Speaking at the launching in Accra on Thursday, March 30, 2023, the Headmistress of the School, Mrs. Nana Ama Acheampomaa Badasu, expressed the hope that the establishment of the SHS will help high-quality Senior High education for Ghanaian children.

She explained that the school’s SHS will run an international curriculum alongside that of the Ghana Education Service (GES), hence giving a broader perspective of Senior High education to its students.

“The purpose of the RCSTF is to raise funds to support the operations, maintenance, capital expenditure programmes, and other projects that will benefit the school and its learners,” she explained.

Mrs. Badasu has, therefore, appealed to all stakeholders of the school, particularly the Old Ridgeans to contribute to the Fund.

A Board Member of the School, Mrs. Grace Dede Hanson, said the Fund will be a major catalyst to enable the school to expand its quality education in the country.

For her, the Ridge Church School has been a critical contributor of well-performing students to the various SHSs across the country.

"In the 66 years of existence, the school has been a feeder for top secondary schools in the country, initially through the Common Entrance Examinations and later through the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE)," she explained.

She said the establishment of the SHS will enable parents to stop hunting for schools for their wards after they had completed basic education in the school, hence appealing to its stakeholders to contribute to the Fund.

“The Ridge Church School will need the support of her many sons and daughters," Mrs. Hanson said, adding "We are saying to the alumni and friends that we need your help, please come to the Ridge Church school and help us."
Trustees of the Fund.

A member of the Committee to manage the Fund, Mrs. Joyce Bannerman-Woode, in a brief presentation on the Fund, said the Fund is a company limited by guarantee (LGB) duly registered under Ghana's Companies Act 2019 (Act 992) and is managed by trustees who are appointed by the Accra Ridge Church, Old Ridgeans Association (ORA), and the school’s Board.

"The trustees have undertaken to hold, manage, and administer the Fund in accordance with the terms of the Trust Deed," she explained.

She expressed the hope that the team of professionals who have been assembled to manage the fund will inure to the benefit of the school and its stakeholders.
Commendation.

The Chairperson for the event, Justice Merley Wood, an Appeals Court judge, commended the school's founders for their vision of giving quality education to Ghanaian children.

She consequently charged those who have been tasked with the responsibility to manage the Fund to do so with accountability and with transparency in order to achieve the purpose for which the Fund has been set up.

“I charge them to find innovative ways of generating income,” she admonished the Fund Committee, adding “all Stakeholders have to be given regular information.”