The Northfin Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the Upper East Region, has constructed and handed over a kindergarten classroom block to the Azupupunga community in the Bawku West district.
Five years ago, the Azupupunga Community Basic School was operating under trees due to the lack of infrastructure after it was established by community members. Northfin Foundation stepped in, with support from Felix Foundation, and constructed a 3-unit classroom block with a head teacher’s office complex for the community and also helped recruit voluntary teachers for the school.
Again, the community stakeholders appealed for a KG block, which the foundation and its partners constructed. The 2-unit classroom block with a teacher’s office will help manage the growing population in the school.
Speaking at the ceremony to hand over the facility to the community, Arnold Asanga, the Acting Project Coordinator for Northfin Foundation, said the newly constructed kindergarten block is expected to provide a conducive learning environment for young children in the community.
“When we saw that the number had swelled up, and there was an encouragement in the enrollment, they came to us and said that it was time for them to still have a KG block. Accordingly, we still sent that request to our donor partners and they did not withhold from helping us. So they helped us and today we have this edifice which I think can bridge or reduce the distance that students have to cover from this community to get basic education. And also reduces the risks students have to encounter on their way to school.”
According to Arnold Asanga, who was speaking on behalf of the Founder of Northfin Foundation, Rex Asanga, the foundation is responsible for paying the volunteer teachers some little allowances and also sponsoring their distance studies, which is not easy for them. Mr. Asanga therefore called on stakeholders in education to, as a matter of urgency, absorb the school for the benefit of the community.
The school has now grown from KG 1 to primary 5 with only 4 teachers including the head teacher. The head teacher of the Azupupunga Community Basic School, Ayeebo Awinbe Emmanuel, expressed gratitude for the continued support from Northfin Foundation and its donor partner Felix Foundation.
The Assembly Member for the Tilli/Azupupuga electoral area, Atiah James Avokbilla, while acknowledging the efforts by Northfin Foundation, is confident that the school will soon be absorbed by the government. According to him, he had already contacted many stakeholders who assured him of their readiness to absorb the school.
Source: A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure |Bolgatanga|
