<<Print>>Mr Dan Kwaku Botwe, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere, has provided kindergarten facilities for children in rural communities who walk more than seven kilometers to and from school in adjoining communities each day.
The communities which include Awukugua-Nyensi, Aboa, Nyensi-Camp, Onyamebekyere, Gyan-Kwakye, Otareso, Asifaw-South and Okyerekrom are satellite communities within the seven major towns on the Akuapem Ridge that make up the Okere Constituency.Some students who have completed senior high school had been contracted by the beneficiary communities to teach at the kindergarten and they would be paid by the MP from his share of the Common Fund until such time that the Ghana Education Service (GES) would absorb the schools into the public system.
This came to light when the MP and Minister-designate of Regional Re-organisation and Special Projects met with leaders of one of the beneficiary communities at Nyensi-Camp to finalise arrangements for the school to commence from Wednesday.He donated seed money of 200 Ghana cedis to a three-man committee including a parent, teacher and the Odikro to open an account for the school so that moneys for running of the school would be paid into.
Mr Botwe said the rationale was to make the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) realistic to all children irrespective of their background to ensure that the gap between children in the rural and urban areas was bridged.The MP said he had notified the GES of the Kindergarten projects meant to bring education to the doorstep of the rural communities and expressed the hope that in due course it would be absorbed into the mainstream basic schools.
He said because the basic schools in those communities were situated far away and students had to trek about seven kilometers each day, children of school going age between the ages of four and seven were not going to school.Mr Botwe said he was touched by the sight of many children supposed to be in kindergarten loitering about in the communities because they could not walk the long distances to attend school in adjoining communities and their mothers could not also accompany them each day.
He gave the hint that as part of measures to motivate parents to send their children to the kindergarten he was considering serving meals to the children in all the kindergartens until such a time that the GES would take over and possibly link them to the school feeding programme.He urged the community leaders and the three-member committees to own the school and ensure that the objective for the setting up of the Kindergarten within their communities was realised to improve upon the standard of education in the area.
An elated parent, Rose Owusu, who spoke on behalf of the community, commended the MP for his gesture saying many children begin school late and even shun going to school totally because of the long distances they had to trek.