Ghanatodayonline.com News, Politics, Health, Education & More
According to Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the Zongo villages in Ghana have improved under the Akufo-Addo administration.
When he opened a two-story classroom building for the Tunga Zongo Community in Dansoman, Accra, on July 27, 2022, he made the observation.
The Zongo Development Fund, a development organization established by the Akufo-Addo government to ensure inclusive and sustainable development in Zongos and other underprivileged communities, provided funding for the project, which involved completely rebuilding and modernizing a crumbling classroom of Tunga Community Islamic School.
Speaking at the facility’s opening, Dr. Bawumia noted that funding projects like this one and several others across the nation shows the government’s commitment to increasing everyone’s access to high-quality education, particularly in Zongo areas, through the Zongo Development Fund.
The Zongo Development Fund is the primary organization and vehicle used by the government to ensure the achievement of the development goals relating to Zongo communities. “Expanding access to quality and relevant education is pivotal to the transformation we are determined to engender in Zongo Communities,” said Dr. Bawumia.
“Indeed, since Ghana attained independence, no budget has ever been deliberately allocated for the development of Zongo communities. The establishment of the Fund dedicated to Zongo communities is indisputably unprecedented.
“The construction of this impressive educational complex and its ancillary facilities by the Zongo Development Fund in Tunga championed by our ever vibrant and hardworking Member of Parliament, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful clearly underscores our commitment to leave neither nook nor cranny in our efforts at expanding access to quality education, particularly in Zongo Communities,” Dr Bawumia added.
Since the Zongo Development Fund was established in 2018, it has championed the development of infrastructure in numerous Zongos for health, education, sports, sanitation, drainage systems, roads, and water, in addition to offering financial aid for education and support for many entrepreneurs.
Dr. Bawumia praised the ZDF’s impact on communities, as intended by the NPP Government, and named several of these initiatives along with their locations in Zongos nationally.
“These obvious interventions by the Fund are commendable efforts aimed at bridging the yawning gap in the educational fortunes of Zongo communities vis-a-vis other communities.
“Not only has government implemented a comprehensive development of educational infrastructure in Zongo communities, it has also intervened positively by improving health facilities, sanitation, human resource development through skills training and educational grants and in improving the ambience, visibility and security in Zongo Communities in Accra.”
“Indeed, communities such as New Fadama, Madina and others have witnessed a remarkable transformation in social, recreational and sporting activities through the construction of Community Sports and Social Centres (Astro turfs). These centres have provided a new fillip to the lives of the inhabitants of these communities.”
Dr. Bawumia reiterated the government’s commitment to increasing access to education, noting that given the significant increase in Senior High School enrollment as a result of the Free SHS policy, it is the government’s responsibility to increase access at all levels.
“In this regard, the government has started the construction of one model senior high school in each of the 16 areas through the Zongo Development Fund.
To assure the opening of three of the schools this year, we are working assiduously.
The recently inaugurated building offers auxiliary amenities including offices and a library.
Ursula Owusu Akurful, a local MP and minister of communications and digitalization, was present at the ceremony and expressed her joy at the creation and commissioning of the classroom project.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
