The Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod) has commissioned a 6-unit classroom block for Assin Senchiem D/A basic school in the newly created Assin North District of the Central Region.
The building comprises of a computer laboratory, water system, Head teacher’s office with a secretariat among other ancillary facilities.Speaking at a ceremony to commission the project, Mr Samuel Asare Ankomah, the Central Regional Manager of the Cocoa Health and Extension Division of COCOBOD stated that his outfit remained committed to supporting cocoa growing communities with development projects.
Major cocoa communities that lacked school infrastructure have been identified and they would be provided with ultra-modern school blocks with state of-the-art facilities to ease the burden of children in these deprived communities the hassle of walking long distances to access education.
The initiative formed part of the organization's commitment to give boost to child educational support dubbed; "Child Education Support Programme" introduced in 2014 with an initial capital of GH¢2 million and later increased to GH¢ 4.03 million.
The project apart from education, also seeks to fight all worst forms of child labour in Ghana’s cocoa sector as identified in the early 2000s by the global community.Mr. Ankomah said the facility formed part of a total of 12 school projects awarded for construction about four years ago and were at various stages of completion.
He pleaded with school authorities and the community leaders to adopt good maintenance culture to elongate the life span of the facility.Mr Charles Ohene Andoh, the District Chief Executive (DCE), expressed the Assembly's commitment to furnish the classroom since the facility didn’t come with furniture among others.
He advised the students to stop wasting their time on frivolous ventures and be obedient to their parents and teachers, respect themselves and be God fearing.Mr. Andoh reminded them that Ghana’s governance will soon be bequeathed to them because the aged will soon leave the scene for the younger generation to take over and therefore they should not play with their books but learn hard to achieve good results and good job opportunities in future.
He told them to make good the huge financial investments in their education by the government as well as parents, study hard and eschew all forms of social vices.
Parents and guardians must also ensure their children were regular in class.
Mr Kinsley Gyemfi, Head teacher of the school was thankful to COCOBOD for coming to the aid of the school and pledged to protect the facility to serve its purpose.