RAINS Donates Bicycles, TLMs To Pupils & Schools In Northern Region

Beneficiaries of Bicycles

The Regional Advisory Information and Network Systems (RAINS), a child rights promotion and development organisation in Tamale in partnership with Canadian Feed The Children (CFTC), has donated forty (40) bicycles to children in deprived communities to aid their movement to and from school. 

RAINS and CFTC also presented a large quantity of assorted teaching and learning materials (TLMs) as well as classroom desks to the Sang Zakaria Islamic Primary School, Kpachelo English and Arabic School, Bidima D/A Primary School and Zoosali M/A Primary School. 

The donations forms part of the implementation of the INCOME programme by RAINS and CFTC, Project Officer Gloria Wusufor Akugri told Savannahnews in an interview shortly after a presentation at Kpachelo English and Arabic School in Nanton in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region of Ghana. The two organisations had earlier made similar presentations to the other three schools during their annual performance review meetings.

Integrated Community Empowerment (INCOME), a CFTC funded programme spanning three-years (2013-2015) is being implemented in four communities in two districts and a municipality. They include Sang in the Mion District, Bidima in West Gonja District, Kpachelo and Zoosali in the Savelugu-Nanton Municipality. 

The programme intends to strengthen educational structures such as Parent Teacher Associations and School Management Committees at the community level to engage the necessary actors in quality education delivery; and build the capacity of community stakeholders on advocacy and lobbying on issues concerning education, food security among others.

Ms Akugri explained that, the programme since its inception has supported 1,077 children at the basic school level and 240 women smallholder farmers in all four beneficiary communities. “In 2013, we spent GH¢132,028.00 on education and agriculture in all four communities. In 2014, we’re spending GH¢179,518.25; and in 2015 implementing year, we’re likely to spend an estimated GH¢214,326.00”, she stated. 

Pupils of Sang Zakaria Islamic Sch. rejoice over new TLMs

She also indicated that, through the programme, nine untrained teachers in all four basic schools are being supported to pursue Diploma in Basic Education at various Colleges of Education and the University of Cape Coast. “RAINS/CFTC supports in paying the school fees of beneficiaries”, Ms Akugri emphasised. 

According to her, some women in the beneficiary communities during the 2014 farming season were also supported to go into farming to enhance their food security and income situations. “Additionally, we’re donating new sets of classroom desks to pupils at the kindergarten and class 1 levels in two of the four schools who until now, were sitting or lying on the floor to write whereas all four schools receive TLMs”, Ms Akugri noted.

Meanwhile, Headteacher of Kpachilo E/A Primary School Abubakari Mohammed Awal, expressed gratitude to RAINS and CFTC for their enormous support in recent years saying “without these two organisations, perhaps, our situation would have been worse than our present condition”.

With a population of 237 pupils, the school currently has no single conducive classroom to sit in for effective classes. This is because, the six unit classroom block of the school which host classes one to six was in the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year declared “deathtrap and unusable” by Engineers of the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Assembly.

At the moment, classes are held under trees and each time it threatens to rain, the children according to Mr. Awal, are asked to go home. He said, the situation will continue pending when the Assembly builds a new school at a different location in the community for the school.