This means the program, which was initially rolled out by KLM in deprived communities such as Donkor Krom, Akplabanya, Elmina, and Agbogbloshie, will now be piloted in three areas in Accra and subsequently replicated across the country.

With this new partnership, churches under GPCC will now recruit volunteer teachers and provide infrastructure for the nationwide running of the program.

Speaking at the official launch of the initiative on Sunday, October 8, at the climax of the GPCC Week celebration at the Church of Pentecost, Odorkor Central, Accra, CEO of KLM, Pastor Alex Gyasi, advised stakeholders to invest in education, especially in deprived communities.

“We want to help the underprivileged young children in our communities in Ghana, who do not receive good quality education because of economic deprivation. We want to help them improve their prospects by providing them with good quality education.”

“We do this by providing supplementary education. What we have realized is that there are some intelligent young people who are unable to attend higher education because they never receive the support they need. By helping them, they will be able to attend higher education and come and lift their families out of poverty, so that we can break the cycle of poverty in their communities. That is our vision.”

Challenges

Pastor Gyasi mentioned the lack of volunteers and infrastructure as the initial challenges that confronted the initiative since it was founded in 2013.

“There are many challenges. First, you have to find a place to hold the classes and volunteers. These are all challenging things, but we have overcome them by perseverance. There are times when we find it difficult to find a place,” he said.

“There was a time we wanted to find a place, and we wrote to the Department of Education, and we waited for six months with no response. We got fed up and rented a place for ourselves in Madina, and that is how we started the school, so the challenges are there, but we are determined to persevere because we don’t see any alternative,” he added.

Support

He appealed to corporate organizations, NGOs, and individuals to come on board to support the initiative to help raise the level of education in deprived communities across Ghana.

“We want to invite individuals who have a passion for education, corporate institutions, government, anyone who wants to help to come on board. This is not something that we can do by ourselves, but at least we can start, and that is what we are doing. But to finish it, we need help. Other churches that are not part of GPCC can also come on board. If you want to come on board, contact us,” he appealed.

Great initiative

General Secretary of GPCC, Apostle Immanuel N.O. Tettey, on his part, described the initiative as a game-changer that could fast-track socioeconomic development in Ghana.

“I thank God so much for this program. As we all know, education is the key transforming agency for any society, so when we learned what KLM was doing with Greater Accra GPCC, we thought it was a great initiative worth supporting, especially in deprived communities.

“It is unique in the sense that it is not expecting support from abroad. We are taking our initiative. The support we are getting from KLM is the concept and methodology which they have used elsewhere like Pakistan, Sudan, Bulgaria, and others, which has been time tested.”