As part of its Sustainable Kindergartens Project designed to help communities with basic education, Tullow Ghana has commissioned an ultra-modern kindergarten facility for the people of Krisan-Sanzule in the Ellembele District of the Western Region.
The Sustainable Kindergartens Project is the pre-tertiary component of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative which forms part of Tullow’s larger educational support programme that spans from kindergarten through university education.
The Krisan/Sanzule kindergarten facility which is one of nine (9) similar projects built in seven (7) other coastal communities of the Western Region comes with two trained teachers for each class, a playground, a canteen and a washroom for both teachers and students.
Speaking at the inaugural durbar, the Operations Director of Tullow Oil Plc, Chris Roos, stated, “This project is a choice by Tullow that we feel we are obliged to give something back to the communities we engage with and where better to start than the education of children. We are setting them up for the right future and making sure that they have the right environment to start with.”
“Tullow Ghana believes education is the bedrock of every strong society and we demonstrate this by supporting education right from the kindergarten to tertiary level.
“This is in line with our socio-economic investment strategy which focuses on capacity building through education and skills development, strengthening local and national economies and developing shared infrastructure by adapting and leveraging Tullow’s infrastructure plans and projects to benefit host communities,” Mr Roos said.
According to the Tullow Operations Director, the facility designed with sustainable materials and teachers of the school had received training in the Montessori system of teaching and learning.
“We urge you, the good people of Krisan/Sanzule, to demonstrate positive maintenance culture by supporting with the fixing of little things on this facility when the need arises to help extend the lifespan of the facility and make it useful for generations to come,” Chris Roos advised.
On his part, the District Chief Executive of Ellembelle, Mr Kwesi Bonzoh, expressed excitement and thanked Tullow for this modern facility, adding, “The foundation of every educational reform is the best and this modern facility is going to make education very attractive to the very young ones so that they get a very solid foundation in their education.”
He said that the Assembly, district education directorate, the Parent Teacher Association and the community would work together to maintain the facility to last long.
“This facility has come to satisfy a very important need of the people, hence corporate institutions must look out for the needs of the people and solve them instead of doing what they think is right without considering the needs of the local people,” the DCE stated.
According to the Learning Manager of Sabre Education, implementers of the project, Peter Porekuu, the project is both a school infrastructure project and a capacity-building project for kindergarten teachers.
“As part of the project, the teachers of the facility received a total of nine days in-service training over a period of one year as well as practical in-class coaching to support their implementation of the Ghana Education Service Play and Activity based pedagogy.”
It was all pomp and pageantry as the whole community of Krisan/Sanzule with excitement trooped to then durbar grounds to support the first of such a facility in their community. Students thrilled guests with music, dance, cultural display and poetry recitals.
The commissioning was attended by the chiefs of Krisan and Sanzule, Nana NyanzuKpanyinli III and Nana Asafo Boakye III respectively, officials of the district education directorate, staff of Krisan/Sanzule D/A School, officials of Tullow and Oil Ghana and Sabre Education.
By Times Reporter
