Children of Azupupunga Community in the Tilli area of the Bawku West District have had their journey to and from school cut short by the establishment of a community school in the area with support from the Northfin Foundation.
The school was established five years ago to make access to education easier for children in the community, who were having to walk miles and cross the Bolgatanga-Bawku highway to neighboring for schooling.
leaders struggled to have children attend and have access to formal education since the schools in the area are far away from the community which equally requires the children to cross the Bolgatanga-Bawku highway.
With the high risks involved, the community leaders commenced a primary school that was under a tree but had the Northfin Foundation through the Felixfonds step in to build a three-unit classroom block which is now being used to house primary 1-5.
Having operated for a while, it became necessary to establish a Kindergarten Block which had Northfin Foundation and its partners again intervene to build a new facility for the children.
Though the establishment of the school reduced the distance covered, it brought about new challenges including the unavailability of teachers since the school is yet to be absorbed by the government.
As a result, the Foundation had had to engage volunteers and sponsor their education through distance programs at the University of Cape Coast to upgrade their skills to eventually deliver quality service.
Arnold Asanga, Project Coordinator of Northfin Foundation, explained that the essence of intervening to help the school was to improve education in the community.
He explained that the establishment of the primary block had overwhelming support hence the construction of the KG Block.
“This project started about five years ago when the community started the community school to cut down on the distance their children have to cover to go to school. They then brought a proposal and we decided to forward their request to the FelixFonds and so after a while, we began to put up the primary block. It then became necessary to put up a KG and our donors helped us and today, we have this block which essentially, reduces the risks the children encounter on their way to school.”
Mr. Asanga, however, explained that the challenge of still not having the school absorbed by the Ghana Education Service makes it difficult to further enhance service delivery to the kids.
He served notice that it will become difficult for the Foundation to continue to fund the payment of the allowance of the volunteer teachers if, by the end of the year, the school is not absorbed.
“We have absorbed these teachers and we are paying them allowance and paying their fees through the university as a compensatory package but for an NGO, we have limited resources. We are appealing through the media to GES to absorb the school because if we are not able to do so, by the end of the year, it will be a problem. The children are also not being fed because of the delay in absorbing the school.” Mr. Asanga detailed
Head Teacher of the Community School, Emmanuel Ayeebo Awinbe, expressed gratitude to the organization and its partners for the construction of the new school but appealed to GES to absorb the school.
