The facility, fitted with all the utilities and a box room, also comes with a fully furnished bungalow for the housemaster/housemistress to enhance supervision and discipline.

The project is part of the $10-million package to support government’s drive towards improved educational infrastructure in support of the free senior high school policy.

Other schools that have benefited under the first phase of the project include Nsein SHS near Axim, Sankor SHS, Dixcove, both in the Western Region, and the Nsutaman SHS in the Ashanti Region.

The second phase has Annor Adjaye SHS at Jomoro, KIMTECH and Bonzo Kaku SHS as beneficiaries, with projects underway including Bompe SHS, Shama SHS and Axim Girls SHS.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, the Deputy Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, Cythia Lumor, said the company considered the inauguration of the facility as an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to the people of the host country.

She said the dormitory blocks the company had provided so far cumulatively housed over 3,000 additional students.

The projects

“This is the third project to be inaugurated this year and the sixth in a series of 15 projects earmarked for execution over the period of five years,” Ms Lumor said.

She added that the pursuit, development and application of education continued to be the bedrock for global growth, development, and progress.

“The Quality education for all”, which is a pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs) reflects the critical role education plays in society. That is why in 2018, Tullow Ghana committed to investing $10 million over five-years in infrastructure development to support the government's policy of providing free access to quality senior high school education,” Ms Lumor stated.

Since independence, she added, the Western Region had and continued to play an important role in the development of the country through agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing, among its main economic activities.

“We expect that the 16-unit dormitory block will contribute to the region's existing educational infrastructure and benefit more than 600 students each year,” the deputy managing director of Tullow Ghana said.

STEM education

As a company, Ms Lumor indicated that it was committed to local capacity development, saying “our priority areas include capacity building through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and skill development, strengthening local and national economies through shared prosperity.”

Those priority areas, she said, would continue to guide all interventions Tullow made in the country presently and in the future.

Timely intervention

The Principal of KIMTECH, Emmanuel Bright Nomah, said the company had been the school’s long-standing partner, which in the past had provided an overhead water system for the school and now a dormitory.

The prevailing situation, he said, was such that boarding facilities were few and could only accommodate a few students.

“The institute with the population of 2,203 has about 1,600 boarders who are managing a space meant for only 1,000 students,” Mr Nomah said.

He said the gesture by Tullow Ghana, therefore, could not have come at any better time as it would go a long way to ease the pressure and congestion on the accommodation challenge.

The Divisional Chief of Kikam, Nana Etease II, commended the company for the support for the communities in the areas of education, health, water and sanitation.

He said aside from the water and the dormitory, the needs of the school were more and urged other companies to emulate the example of Tullow Ghana to support the development of technical and vocational education in the Nzema area.