By Jones Anlimah
Ghana’s efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4), which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all, have received a boost with the inauguration of two three-unit classroom blocks for Honugo D/A Basic School in the Agotime-Ziope District of the Volta Region. This gesture brings relief to pupils and teachers who previously had lessons disrupted whenever it rained due to inadequate classroom space.
The project, funded by the international non-profit organisation Pencils of Promise, comprises two three-unit classroom blocks with office and store facilities, an eight-unit toilet facility, a four-unit urinal, classroom furniture with electricity, ceiling fans and polytanks for rainwater harvesting to create a more conducive teaching and learning environment.
The intervention forms part of the organisation’s efforts to improve access to quality basic education and complement government’s commitment to achieving SDG 4 through investments in educational infrastructure.
The Headmaster of Honugo D/A Basic School, Belove Akpalu, said the new facilities have brought a major transformation to the school.
He recounted that when he was posted to the school in 2023, the school had only four classrooms, which were inadequate for its growing enrolment.
According to him, teaching and learning were frequently interrupted whenever it rained because the available classrooms could not safely accommodate all pupils.
“Fortunately, Pencils of Promise came into our midst to rescue us,” he said.
Mr. Akpalu however, appealed to benevolent organisations, corporate institutions and philanthropists to support the school with computers, explaining that although provision had been made for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory in the new facility, the school does not have a single computer to facilitate practical ICT lessons.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Executive Officer of Pencils of Promise, Global, Ms Leslie Engle, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting education in Ghana, particularly in the Volta Region.
She said the organisation partnered with communities that demonstrated a strong commitment to education and assessed the impact of its interventions through improvements in enrolment, attendance, learning outcomes and feedback from teachers, parents and pupils.
“Use it and use it well. Learn every day and let’s keep going. This can be just the beginning,” she urged the pupils, adding that “Pencils of Promise isn’t going anywhere, so we have a strong and deep commitment to the Volta Region.”
The Country Director of Pencils of Promise, Mr Freeman Gobah, said the organisation had worked in Ghana’s education sector for about 14 years, constructing school infrastructure in more than 210 communities across the Volta, Eastern and Oti regions.
He said the organisation first constructed a three-unit kindergarten block in Honugo after identifying the community’s infrastructure deficit before returning to provide the additional classroom facilities to address the growing needs of the school.
Mr Gobah appealed to the community, school authorities and parents to maintain the facilities to ensure that future generations continued to benefit from the investment.
“We want to urge the community and the school to take very good care of this structure for posterity,” he said.
Representing the Ghana Education Service, the Head of Human Resource at the Agotime-Ziope District Education Directorate, Mr Clement Martin Katsokpor, described the commissioning as an investment in the future of the children of Honugo.
“Today is more than the cutting of a ribbon. It is the opening of doors… doors to learning, to opportunity and to a brighter future for the children of the Honugu community,” he stated.
Mr Katsokpor commended Pencils of Promise for complementing government’s efforts to improve educational infrastructure, saying the organisation had “not just built blocks but… built hope” for generations of children.
He called on teachers, pupils, the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), the School Management Committee (SMC) and the community to cultivate a strong maintenance culture to preserve the facilities and maximise their long-term benefits.
The commissioning underscores the importance of partnerships between government, development organisations and local communities in advancing SDG 4 by expanding access to safe, inclusive and quality learning environments for children, particularly in underserved communities.
