TEMA PARENTS ASSOCIATION MARKS 45TH ANNIVERSSARY (PAGE 11)

THE Tema Parents Association School (TEPAS) has donated assorted items worth GH¢4,000 to the Asutsuare Junction Basic School at Lorlovo in the Dangme West District.
The donation formed part of activities marking the school’s 45th anniversary celebration on the theme: “Holistic education”.
It included jumbo size mats, school uniforms for both boys and girls, tables for learning, shoes, assorted clothing, textbooks on various subjects, food items and beverages.
A playground of various playing materials was also mounted to afford the nursery and lower primary pupils the opportunity to play during break and games period.
The Headmistress of TEPAS, Mrs Leona Nsakie–Kassim, said the school had decided to adopt the Asutsuary Junction Basic School to support it occasionally.
Mrs Nsakie–Kassim spent time with the children at Lorlovo in the company of some students of TEPAS and recalled an earlier visit to the school when some of the pupils sat on the floor during classes and others did not have school uniforms.
She said the school decided to celebrate the anniversary with the underprivileged children who were facing some challenges through no fault of theirs.
Mrs Nsakie–Kassim asked the children to have vision in order to make the best out of the situation in which they found themselves.
The Headmaster of the Asutsuary Junction Basic School, Mr Lovelace Odonkor, expressed appreciation about the gesture of the staff and students of TEPAS and said it would help to alleviate some of the burden on the pupils’ parents.
He said the people of the area were peasants and shepherds who could not afford such needs as pocket money for their children.
Mr Odonkor said the school, which is currently not on the government’s school feeding programme, had a population of 576 pupils as against 455 last year.
He appealed to the authorities to consider including the school on the feeding programme to help solve some of the problems facing it.
Mr Odonkor noted that the poverty level in the area was high.
He regretted the issue of forced marriages that involved young girls from 12 years, a situation which he said contributed to the dropout of school by girls in the area and appealed to civil society to help curb the situation.
Mr Odonkor urged the Parent-Teacher Association of the school to join hands with the teachers to bring development to ensure growth and success of the pupils.
The Member of Parliament for the area, Mr David Tetteh Asorme, appealed to the Energy Ministry to consider the condition of the people and extend power to the area because it was strategically located on the highway to the Volta Region and was just about 18 km to the Kpong Hydro project.
He said he had provided 35 nine-metre electricity poles for almost a year now but the extension project had not been done.
An Assistant Director of Education at the Dangme West District Office, Ms Mercy Lamptey, commended TEPAS for supporting the poor and needy.
Ms Lamptey urged them to work harder, referring to their last Basic Education Certificate Examination results in which a candidate from the school had aggregate eight and won the President’s award for the district.