Gomoa Dawurampong, (C/R), June 27, GNA - The BenHoffman Care Foundation, a Non- Governmental Organization (NGO), has offered to provide free breakfast twice a week for 400 children of Gomoa Dawurampong Catholic primary school. The NGO said the decision was to ensure zero hunger of children in basic schools as declared in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Bernardette Hoffman, President of BenHoffalso man Care Foundation, said the members of the Foundation had also adopted one Master Bright Donkoh , an orphan and three others in the school. She said the Foundation decided to visit Master Donkoh at the school to see how he was faring, but the problems of other children also came up. The president said it emerged that majority of the children came to school in the morning without eating any food, and had no money at all, which was affecting their academic performance. Dr Hoffman said the Foundation decided that 400 of the 600 children in the school were going to be fed on Mondays and Wednesdays to enable them concentrate on their studies. Plans are also underway to address the remaining 200 children while the four adopted children will be provided with school uniforms, stationery and other learning materials. She said the interactions with authorities of the school revealed that absenteeism was high, especially during market days at Dawurampong on Tuesdays and Fridays. According to the president, the high absenteeism rate is mainly due to hunger hence the Foundation's decision to offer breakfast to help them stay in the classroom. Dr Hoffman said the Foundation would also assist in the construction of the school library and other facilities to enhance effective teaching and learning. She advised parents and community leaders of Gomoa Dawurampong to assist the children, particularly, the orphans among them to do their homework and solve other problems. Mr John De-Baptist Owusu, head teacher at the school expressed gratitude to the NGO for the kind gesture and appealed for the completion of the school library and other projects that had been stalled due to financial constraints. He said the academic performance of the school had improved tremendously because of interventions from the US government, adding that the school recently emerged winner of a debate competition organized for cluster of schools in the area by the MP for Gomoa West, Mr Richard Gyan Mensah. Nana Kwaako Mensah V, Chief of Gomoa Dawurampong, commended the NGO for the intervention to offer breakfast for the children and cautioned caterers to desist from any negative tendencies that would compel the Foundation to stop the offer. The chief appealed to the president of the foundation to help construct a library and provide desks for the school to ensure effective teaching and learning.

Source: Ghana News Agency