Prioritise education of children for better future – Escof Zinnia Foundation

The Founder and Executive Director of Escof Zinnia Foundation, Mrs Esther Donkoh, has urged parents and other education stakeholders to prioritise education of children and prepare them towards responsible adult life for rapid national development.

She said the progress of every community and nation largely depended on its human resource base and that education was the surest way to develop the total being of the child to meet the human resource requirement of the nation for social and economic growth.

Mrs Donkoh made the call at Kpare in the Lambussie District where she presented assorted educational materials to the Kpare Roman Catholic Basic School for distribution to the children.

Materials, worth over GHC4,500.00, included 2,300 exercise books, 72 mathematical sets, 35 school bags, 600 pens and 1,296 pencils as well as several reading materials among others were given out.

The Foundation also supplied cloths and sandals to the farming community described as one of the predominantly deprived communities in the Upper West Region.

The presentation of the materials followed a request made by the Kpare District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost, Mr Emmanuel Essel, to Escof Zinnia Foundation for support to improve teaching and learning in the School.

Prior to the assistance, several children were reported attending school without writing and reading materials like exercise books and pens and pencils as well as bags and sandals due to financial constraints.

The Foundation, which is a health and education-focused humanitarian organisation, earlier delivered consumable medical supplies worth more than GHC1000.00 to the Kpare Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS).
The chief and community members expressed joy and said the supplies would go a long way to improve healthcare delivery in the rural community, which lacked a lot of social amenities.

Addressing teachers, school children and community members after the presentation, Mrs Donkoh indicated that child-bearing was a choice but wondered why some parents have the pleasure of giving birth to many children beyond their economic means.

She said the Foundation was focused on improving healthcare delivery and quality education and stressed that quality education of the child depended on strong educational foundation.

Mr Maxwell Dapaah, the Head Teacher of the School, commended Escof Zinnia Foundation for supporting the School with the academic resources.
He said it would serve as motivation and encouragement to the school children and improve attendance and enrolment as some of kids shun school due to lack of materials.

It would also help teachers assess performance of the children and improve upon their pedagogy.

Mr Dapaah also stated that the school was challenged with inadequate furniture, a situation that compelled children to sit on the bare floor during instructional hours while two or more sat on chairs meant for one person.

Mr Emmanuel Essel, Kpare District Pastor of the Church of Pentecost, informed the School that the Church had a scholarship package for every child who passed the Senior High School Examination and subsequently gains admission into tertiary institution.

He encouraged the children to take their studies seriously in order to benefit from the scholarship package.