Accra, Oct. 29, – A $145,567.00
water and sanitation project funded by Cummins Ghana has been inaugurated and
handed over to the authorities of the Odorgonno Senior High School in Accra.
They are; a 20-seater toilet
facility, 20-cubicle washrooms, washing bay and drying area, two drilled and
mechanised boreholes, painting of boys and girls dormitories, and the
renovation of the boys shower area.
The project which is to improve
hygiene at the school was started in
March, under the Cummins School Improvement Projects in collaboration with
Global Communities which undertook behavioural change activities.
Mr Fred Aryeetey, the General Manager of Cummins
Ghana in an address said their major focus was to provide right environment,
especially for female students to feel comfortable to learn to assist in
closing the gap in academic performance between boys and girls.
He said women played very pivotal
roles in the building of a nation and therefore there was the need to make
their lives easier at school to equal their male counterparts.
“We need to work hard to ensure
gender balance in whatever we are doing by creating equal opportunities for
both sexes for them to do better because when they do the entire society
benefits,” he said.
Mr Aryeetey said enhancing and
focusing more ladies involvement in decision-making helped to grow businesses
and that there was the need to encourage the girls into all subjects in school,
particularly the sciences, mathematics and the arts.
“I want to see more women
ministers, chief executive officers, managers and to hear a woman say I want to
be President of this country, hence making things comfortable for them to surge
ahead,” he said.
He advised male students to
continue to study hard and to ensure that they become what they want to be in
future.
Mr Aryeetey said the expectation
of Cummins Ghana was that the facilities would be used to improve on the past
records of the Odorgonno SHS as well as improvement in enrolment, especially in
the area of gender balance.
He urged the school authorities
to ensure that the students handle the facilities well and inculcate in them
the culture of maintenance to prolong the lifespan of the projects.
He said: “These facilities had
been put up for us and we should own them. We should not allow people to misuse
them,” adding that; “indeed government is always under pressure in terms of
resource and so whenever a private organisation come out to invest in any
institution I believe it is important we individually and collectively take
care of it by showing a sense of ownership.”
The General Manager encouraged
teachers that in spite of the challenges that they might face in their
profession they should still continue to surge on because without them society
would seriously be in difficulties.
“We are very conscious that at
times as teachers you work under very difficult circumstances but I wish to say
that those of us in industry, business and commerce sincerely appreciate you
and your contributions to society,” he said.
Mr Aryeetey paid glowing tribute
to the Headmistress of the school, Dr Mrs Shine Ofori and her management for
their fantastic leadership and desire to always get the best for the
institution, saying “God will bless you all.”
In her welcome address, Dr Mrs
Ofori expressed gratitude to the Cummins Ghana and the Global Communities for
their intervention to save the difficult situation faced by the students in
terms water and sanitation.
She said the school had a student
population of 2,000 and almost 200 staff and that sanitation had been their big
predicament since they could not afford enough dustbins for the large compound.
She said the school dormitories
were infested with bed-bugs and they had to spend huge sums of money to
fumigate the rooms while the students spent study time in search of water and
crossing the busy road in front of the school.
Dr Mrs Ofori said Cummins Ghana
together with Global Communities came to the aid of the school with several
supply of sanitation materials together with toilet and washroom for both boys
and girls.
“They sponsored repairs works and
painting of the boys and girls dormitories with inesfly paints and now the
students are free and the issue of bed-bugs had been a thing of the past,” she
said.
The Headmistress said Cummins had
adopted the school and expressed the hope that with their partnership the
academic excellence of the institution would be improved.
She said over the years the
school authorities had been bordered with the location of the Gas Station at
the school compound close to the Assembly Hall, however, she assured that the
Gas Station had stopped operation and that the Ga Central Municipal Assembly
was doing everything possible to relocate it.
Dr Mrs Ofori appealed to Cummins
Ghana, the Global Communities and other corporate bodies to support the school
in its library project, which is at the standstill and repair of other
dilapidated facilities to improve teaching and learning.
GNA
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