840 BICYCLES FOR SAAMAN SCHOOLCHILDREN (JUNIOR GRAPHIC, DEC 16, PAGE 3)

Schoolchildren in and around Saaman, a cocoa-growing community, who walk long distances to school will no longer do so.
This is because Cadbury, a cocoa-processing firm, has donated 840 bicycles worth GH¢87,000 to be distributed to schoolchildren in the area.
The children at Saaman and nearby towns and villages usually become very tired on reaching their schools and, therefore, are not able to study.
This situation has adversely affected their studies as most of them perform poorly in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Realising the difficulties the children have been going through, Cadbury decided to come to their rescue with the package dubbed “Cadbury Cocoa Partnership”, the company’s initiative to assist people in cocoa-growing areas, especially schoolchildren, to overcome their difficulties.
The presentation of the bicycles at Saaman turned the small community with about 200 households into jubilation as parents followed their children to receive the bicycles.
The Chief of the town, Barima Okuampa Agyeman, who accompanied the Nkosuohene of Fanteakwa, Nana Antwi Boasiako I, to witness the distribution, described the package as the best to the children since most parents could not afford to pay for the cost of transporting their children to school.
Presenting the bicycles to the children, the General Manager of Cadbury Canada, Mr Gary Scullion, said in all, 5,300 bicycles would be made available to Ghanaian schoolchildren under the initiative to relieve them of their suffering so that they would be able to concentrate on their studies.
The Managing Director of Cadbury Ghana, Mr James Amoateng, said the package, which would cover children of 700,000 cocoa farmers in Ghana, would lessen the burden of the farmers and boost their morale to produce more cocoa.
He appealed to the parents and guardians of the schoolchildren to ensure that the bicycles were used for the intended purpose.
Mr Basilio Okello, National Director of World Vision through whom the bicycles were channelled for distribution to the children, said pupils who cover at least a kilometre or more would benefit from the package.
The Cadbury Cocoa Partnership package has won the admiration of the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Fanteakwa, Mr Abass Fuseini Sbaabe, who described the initiative as one of the best to improve the standard of education in the district.
The DCE who stated that the government was also doing its best to improve education, appealed to development partners to help in the crusade against HIV/AIDS in the
district.