NGO DONATES EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS TO STUDENTS (PAGE 29, OCT 7)

THINK Education Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the welfare of needy students, at the weekend donated educational materials to about 500 students.
The event, which took place at Kade, the capital of the Kwaebibirem District, witnessed the students, drawn from various second-cycle educational institutions in the country, getting their share of the gifts.
The beneficiary students came from St Martins Senior High School (SHS), Nsawam, Kade Senior High/Technical School, New Abirem/Afosu SHS, Suhum Senior High/Technical School, New Juaben SHS in Koforidua and the St Roses SHS at Akwatia.
Making the presentation, the Executive Director of the NGO, Mr Frank Asante, said the difficulties parents, especially those in the rural areas, went through in catering for the educational needs of their children in the senior high schools, compelled his outfit to come up with such a package.
He said the organisation, which also sensitises parents to the need to cater for the educational needs of their children, was considering the possibility of paying the fees of students whose parents could not afford, thus compelling such children to stay at home.
The immediate past Kwaebibirem District Director of Education, Mr Charles Lawrence Twumasi, called on philanthropists to assist poor students while the government should improve the salaries of teachers so that they would put up their best in the classroom.
The Kade District Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr George Aboagye, praised the initiative of the NGO and suggested that it should extend its package to teachers, especially those in the remote areas.
In a speech read on his behalf, the District Chief Executive for Kwaebibirem, Mr George Agyemang Duah, said the assembly was also improving the educational infrastructure in the area.
He said with initiatives such as the Capitation Grant, the school feeding programme and the proposed free school uniforms for pupils, children of school age could go to school.
For his part, the Kadehene, Osabarima Agyare Tenadu, urged the NGO to establish a library at Kade for schoolchildren.