PoP cautions against duplication of educational facilities in rural communities: Ghanatoday.net

By
Samuel Akumatey, GNA

Ho, Jan. 29, GNA –
Mr Freeman Gobah, Country Director of Pencils of Promise, a Non-Governmental
Organisation (NGO), has called for extensive stakeholder consultation on the
siting of school projects to ensure they benefit those who need them most.

He spoke of the
situation where because of the non-involvement of the local people, projects
including libraries and ICT laboratories had been built far away from
communities they were meant to serve and literary become “white
elephants.”

The Director made
the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of
the inauguration of a six unit classroom block built by the NGO for the
Klenomardi M.A. Basic School in the Ketu North Municipality of the Volta
Region.

He asked that
government agencies and other entities engaged more with stakeholders –
parents, and the community, on such facilities.

In some instances,
political influence was also to blame for the wrong siting and duplication of
projects in rural communities, he noted.

He said amid
dwindling state resources, the role of NGOs had become increasingly vital, and
there was the need for collaboration with Government.

“Projects are
clashing and must be evenly distributed. We need more coordination between
government and the NGOs to avoid duplication of resources, and ensure they are
properly sited and well thought of, to meet the needs of beneficiaries,” he
said.

Mr. Gobah expressed
concern about what he cast as the “huge educational infrastructure deficit in
the Volta, Oti, and Eastern Regions”, where PoP had been operating since 2012 –
provided over 160 classroom blocks.

Teaching and
learning materials, he said, were virtually non-existent in rural schools in
these areas, and that many of them did not have the full complement of
teachers.

He gave the
assurance that the NGO would sustain it drive to provide the infrastructure – a
basic requirement for schools.

“Going forward, PoP
would continue to build schools to improve education. We will focus more on
quality education in the classroom, and will engage more stakeholders, and
remain accountable to our donors.

“We will journey
deeper into the Volta, Oti and Eastern Regions, and address the huge
infrastructure deficit,” he said.

Pencils of Promise
also provides teaching and learning materials, as well as in-service training
for teachers.

Every classroom
block it builds comes with a toilet, and water holding facility, to assist make
handwashing become an integral part of school culture.

GNA