The Ghana Education Service (GES) has officially absorbed Azupupunga Primary School in the Tilli Electoral Area of the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The school was founded and built by the Northfin Foundation.
Following a request from community members led by the then Assembly Member for the area, John Akugre, Northfin Foundation deemed it necessary to establish the school to provide access to education, with funding from Felixfonds of Belgium.
The organization initially constructed a three-unit classroom block with a head teacher’s office and toilet facility, recruited volunteer teachers to manage the school, and later added a Kindergarten (K.G.) block and a borehole for the students.
GES has now taken over the management of Azupupunga Primary under the Catholic Education Unit, renaming it Saint Andrews Catholic Primary School.
The Executive Director of Northfin Foundation, Rex S. A. Asanga, expressed excitement over the formal absorption of the school by GES.
“Efforts were made over a long period to get GES to absorb the school into the government educational system. This has finally been achieved this year,” he said.
“While preparing for this program, I was informed that the school has been placed under the Catholic Education Unit and renamed Saint Andrews Catholic Primary School. It is our prayer and hope that the Catholic Education Unit will provide the needed oversight and supervision to enhance teaching and learning.”
Speaking at a short ceremony to donate textbooks, notebooks, and sporting materials for the pupils and teachers, Mr. Asanga explained why Northfin Foundation deemed the donation necessary.
“We are here today to present textbooks for use by teachers and pupils as a contribution to what the government and the District Assembly may provide in the future. During our monitoring visits to the school, we realized that teaching and learning were ineffective due to a lack of textbooks. We appealed to Felixfonds, and they agreed to assist us in purchasing books for all classes,” he said.
Bukari Shaibu, acting head of supervision at the Bawku West Education Directorate, expressed gratitude to Northfin Foundation for being the driving force behind the establishment of the school. According to him, GES, together with the school management, will take good care of all facilities established and donated by the foundation.
James Atiah, the Assembly Member for the Tilli Electoral Area, also thanked Northfin Foundation for the significant support it has provided to the community over the years.
Source: a1radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Bawku West
