NGO funds girls' dormitory project

Bole (N/R), June 1, GNA - The Makbreneth Foundation of Canada (MFC), an international NGO, has funded a 500 million-cedi dormitory project for female students of the Bole Senior Secondary School. Mr. Jacques Lapointe, President of the MFC commissioned the dormitory complex, which can accommodate 120 girls, at Bole on Wednesday.

The Bole Senior Secondary School has a student population of 767, including 335 girls.

The MFC funded the construction of the dormitory complex through the efforts of Dr David Mensah, Director of the Northern Empowerment Association (NEA) a local NGO.

Mr. Lapointe pledged his organisation's preparedness to assist communities to undertake projects, which would meet their critical needs and would also maintain such projects without further funding from development partners.

He urged the girls to ta ke proper care of the dormitory and encouraged them to use the enabling environment provided by the facility to study hard.

Mr Lapointe promised that every year, the MFC would award scholarship to three girls who would excel to pursue further courses in any tertiary institutions of their choice.

Mr Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Regional Minister said the government had increased its spending in the education sector by way of investing in infrastructure expansion, implementing reforms to improve the quality of education and developing a model school in each district. He said in spite of these efforts, government alone could not cater for all the educational needs of the people and therefore welcomed the interventions of the various NGOs, including the MFC.

Madam Elizabeth Salamatu Forgor, Bole District Chief Executive, announced that under the second phase of the government's plan to provide one model school in each district of the country, the Bole Senior Secondary School had been earmarked to be turned into a model school.

The school, she said, would therefore be provided with adequate classroom blocks, dormitories, science laboratory, administration block and staff bungalows.

Madam Forgor impressed on the students on the need for discipline and warned them against the destruction of school property without considering the re percussions whenever they wanted their grievances to be addressed. She educated the students on the National Health Insurance Scheme and urged them to educate their families to register to enable them to access medical services at moderate cost.

She said since the scheme started operating in the district in November last year, 1,490 people had so far benefited while the government had released 530 million cedis to support it. Madam Forgor called for collaboration among stakeholders in education to enhance educational development in the district.