BAWKU WEST ASSEMBLY ASSISTS 3 COMMUNITIES (PAGE 21, FEB 16, 2010)

THE Bawku West District Assembly has handed over three development projects it has undertaken over the past six months for the Atarikom, Kusanaba and Agatusi communities.
The projects, which cost a total of GH¢227,119.50, include a six-unit classroom block with an office and a store, as well as toilet facilities, for the Atarikom-Gbere community.
Others are a two-unit workshop for the Kusanaba Vocational Centre and a three-bedroom facility, as well as a Community Health Provision Services Compound for the Agatusi community.
The projects were financed with funds from the District-Wide Assistance Programme (DWAP) of the Canadian International Development Assistance and the assembly’s share of the District Assemblies’ Common Fund.
Handing over the projects at separate functions, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Anaba Adam Moro, said the construction of the projects illustrated the government’s commitment to the improvement of access to basic education and health care in the district.
At Atarikom, the construction of the classroom block has brought great relief to the people, who said the children had been learning under sheds and trees since 2004 when the school was established.
Mr Moro said the provision of toilets and urinals was particularly significant in the assembly’s efforts to inculcate into children good sanitary habits that would eventually benefit the whole community.
He entreated the teachers and parents to encourage the pupils to use the sanitary facility and take good care of them.
Mr Moro also called for proper maintenance of the facility to increase its lifespan.
At Kusanaba, the DCE said the assembly decided to provide the workshop to facilitate practical work for carpentry and joinery, as well as building and construction programme of the school, because the assembly was of the belief that the facility was fundamental to reducing poverty among the youth in the district.
He expressed the hope that graduates of the vocational school would also be in the position to informally train others on the job, thereby spreading the benefits of the skills they acquired to others.
Mr Moro assured the school that the assembly had taken note of its dilapidated classroom structures, adding that every effort would be made to renovate them.
The District Director of Education, Mr Paul Apanga, commended the assembly for providing the structures, which, he said, would translate into improved academic performance.
The Headmaster of Atarikom Primary School, Mr Michael Atubiga, said the lack of teaching staff, furniture and accommodation for teachers was among some of the the challenges facing the school.
He, therefore, appealed to the Ghana Education Service to come to the school’s aid by posting trained teachers to the institution.
The Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Moses Aduk-Pam, said the provision of the educational and health infrastructures formed part of an overall strategy to develop the entire district to alleviate the plight of the people.