A three-unit classroom block has been constructed and handed over to the teachers and pupils of Gatusi Primary School in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region. Constructed by the Talensi District Assembly with its share of the revenue disbursement from the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, the project comes as a relief to the pupils and teachers of the school who hitherto were learning in a mud structure and under trees. The school was started in 2008 as a private school under a pavilion but subsequently members of the community through communal labour constructed the mud structure which was housing about 400 pupils, compelling some to learn under trees. At a short ceremony to inaugurate the facility, Mr Clifford Baba Atanga, the Talensi District Assembly Coordinating Director, commended the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands for providing the funds for the project. He said the Assembly through its internally generated funds had begun the construction of a 20-bed children's ward for the Talensi District Hospital which was at the roofing stage while two boreholes had also been earmarked to be constructed for two communities in the district. He, therefore, appealed to the Office of the Administration of Stool Lands to support the Assembly to be able to complete the projects to bring relief to the people in the areas. 'On behalf of the chiefs and people of Talensi and the Assembly, I would like to use this platform to appeal to the Administrator of Stool Lands to kindly consider supporting us yet again so that we can complete the kids ward and provide these boreholes that are sitting on our 2023 plan,' he said. Mr Francis Benirzor Yidaan, the Assemblyman for Yameriga-Gatusi Electoral Area, who expressed happiness about the school block noted that the current enrollment of the school was about 400 pupils and before the construction of the new edifice, many of the pupils were learning under trees. He said the enrollment kept on increasing and the three-unit classroom provided was not enough to contain all the six primary classes and the kindergarten level and appealed for more classroom blocks to be constructed for the school. Mr Baffoh Zaakaria, the Acting Regional Stool Lands Officer, Office of the Administration of the Stool Lands, said it was saddened that the children were seen sitting on rocks while academic exercise was ongoing and urged the management of the school to maintain the facility to attract more support. Mrs Maame Ama Edumadze Acquah, the Administrator of Stool Lands, noted that communities stood to gain a lot when stakeholders paid their stool lands revenue and noted that over the years the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands had delivered on its mandate as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. 'I must say that the office of the Administrator of stool lands has lived up to its mandate by mobilising stool lands revenue from this region and accordingly disbursed same to its beneficiaries for the intended purpose,' she said. She said since the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands started operations in the Upper East Region about 13 years ago in Bolgatanga, it expanded its operations across the region to Fumbisi, Navrongo, Paga, Bawku and Sandema. 'Since the inception of our operations in this region, staff have worked tirelessly to ensure revenue improvement year on year from about GHS24,000.00 in 2010 to over GHS665,000.00 as at the end of December, 2022 and all these have been disbursed accordingly,' she added.

Source: Ghana News Agency