Pencils of Promise modifies Aflao Border Basic School

Pencils of Promise (PoP), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with a focus on education and public health has fortified the ground floor of the six-unit classroom block of Aflao Border Basic School.

The NGO also constructed another six unit classrooms on top of the ground floor and a 20-seater toilet facility for the School.

The initiative is to rescue the infrastructure from collapsing, improve sanitation and make the environment appealing to pupils.

The Aflao Basic School has not seen any major modern works since it was built in 1984 by Border Guards apart from some new structures which were added by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) in 2009.

Mr. Freeman Gobah, Country Director, PoP, at a ceremony to handover the completed project to the School's Management Committee and the community, said the NGO had to renovate the ground floor before building the first floor because the structure was too weak to withstand the pressure of the first floor.

He said the Aflao Border Basic School project was the most expensive project the NGO had undertaken in the country since its inception, estimated at over GHC500,000.00

Mr Gobah said the project was the 160th by his outfit in seven years across 24 districts within the Volta, Oti and Eastern Regions and urged both teachers and pupils to help maintain its longevity to benefit generations yet unborn.

He added that PoP also provided 272 pieces of furniture for the classrooms.

Mr Gobah commended the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the School for the support and commitment to the development of the School.

Mr Emmanuel Attipoe, Headteacher, Aflao Border Basic School, said the School was on a sanitation time bomb with no toilet facility for the about 3,000 pupil population and commended PoP for the intervention.

He said the School still needed more classroom blocks, science and ICT laboratories, and library.

Madam Enyonam Afi Amafuga, Volta Regional Director of Education, in a speech read on her behalf, praised PoP for their intervention in the educational sector in the Volta and Oti Regions.

She said the literacy quiz challenge introduced by the NGO had heightened interest and commitment to reading among pupils and was on course to improving literacy skills and learning outcomes in the two regions.

Madam Amafuga urged parents to provide their children with basic material needs, affection and psychological support to motivate them to learn.

Old students of the School presented nine laptop computers and a projector to the School.