Tamale NGO builds centre for rural school

Dinga (NR), March 31, GNA - The Tuma Kavi Development Programme (TKDP), a Tamale based NGO has constructed an Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD) for the Dinga community in the Savelugu/Nantong Municipality to help improve early childhood education.

The Dinga Community Day Nursery school children had been housed in a thatched building for a very long time until the NGO intervened to construct the block with a play ground attached to enhance teaching and learning.

The Educo, Spain based international child centred NGO supported Tuma Kavi to construct the building at the cost of GH₵ 81,000.

Reverend (Mrs) Sanatu Natongmah, Director of Tuma Kavi, handing over the school at the weekend said the NGO was concerned in tackling educational problems at all sectors of society including hard to reach communities such as Dinga.

She said childhood programmes could improve the well being of young children especially in developing world where children had four in ten chances of living in extreme poverty and that some 10.5 million children die yearly from preventable diseases before attaining age five.

She said investment in early childhood education yields high economic returns, which offsets disadvantage and inequality especially for children with poor family background, hence the need to help with the provision of the learning centre.

Rev Natongmah said the Dinga ECD centre employed the learning through play approach at both the community and school levels where parents were introduced to the various stages of the development and the importance of bridging gender barriers when it came to child play.

Mr Albert Taradelas, Educo-Spain Director of Corporation, commended Tuma Kavi for investing in children and assured that Educo would continue to offer support to NGOs in Ghana whose work fell in line with Educo's area of support.

He said early childhood development was key to a successful educational system if given the necessary attention and expressed the hope that the Dinga centre would be used as a model learning centre for the neighboring communities to raise the standard of education in the area.

Mr Alhassan Red, Savelugu/Nantong Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said the NGO's assistance was complimenting government's efforts of improving educational infrastructure especially at the early childhood development level.

He advised community members to take good care of the infrastructure to ensure its long life span for the benefit of all to improve education in the area.

GNA