FOR many children in privileged schools in the country, a new school block could mean nothing new, but this was certainly not the case for pupils of the AME Zion Primary School in Guunayili, a suburb of Tamale.
A glimmer of hope showed in their faces as they sat waiting eagerly to occupy their newly-constructed school block.
It was a ceremony to inaugurate the new block and the atmosphere generated by the children and their parents was enough demonstration of their excitement.
Chiefs, elders, mothers and fathers came to the grounds in their numbers amidst drumming and dancing. The atmosphere was further electrified by some traditional dance and poetry performances from some of the school pupils.
Interestingly, about 400 metres away from this school is the Tamale SOS school compound, which is replete with nice edifices.
So, for the children of the AME Zion Primary, their new beautiful building, which is comparable to the ones at the SOS school, certainly inspires hope.
But more importantly for the children, they could now sit comfortably in separate classrooms and enjoy their lessons. Initially, those in classes 2 and 3 shared the same classroom, whiles those in class 1 sat under a tree in the open space.
This was because their existing three classroom block was simply inadequate to contain all the classes. The primary had a total of 185 pupils, whiles the two Kindergartens had 146 children.
Two institutions deserve the praise for putting a smile on the faces of these little kids and their parents – the Princess Umul Hatiyya (PUH) Foundation and Coca Cola Africa Foundation.
Through the PUH Foundation, Coca Cola funded the construction of the six-classroom block and office, together with other auxiliary facilities at an estimated GH¢100, 844.
The other facilities include kitchen, dinning area, rainwater harvesting system, water storage tank, urinary and toilets.
“We were using the bush anytime we wanted to urinate or go to toilet,” Wahab Barkisu, a class three pupil of the school told the Daily Graphic.
She said she was also happy that they now have a decent place to sit and eat their meals.
The Guunayili AME Zion primary happen to be one of the schools benefiting from the school feeding programme and thus the kitchen and dining seem to be very appropriate.
It can be recollected that the PUH Foundation was formed by Princess Umul Hatiyya, who attracted the headlines in 2009 when she rode a bicycle from Accra to Tamale in a bid to raise funds to support children in deprived communities.
The elated Princess Umul Hatiyya could certainly not hide her joy having made a giant step towards meeting her organisation’s goals.
“I am overjoyed today to see this beautiful edifice. This is a major milestone in the history of our foundation,” she stated.
Princess reiterated the fact that education is the foundation of every developed nation and urged the teachers to be committed and instil in the children the habit of reading.
The Public Affairs and Communications Director of Coca Cola Equatorial Africa, Mr Philippe Ayivor said the project was in line with the company’s “build a school” programme.
He explained that under this programme, the company provides new school structures or renovate existing ones in selected communities each year.
He pleaded with the assembly, the school authorities and the community to ensure that the facilities are properly maintained and not left to deteriorate like many other public buildings.
He said Coca Cola was willing to provide the school with a library and staff common room if the assembly was prepared to bear half the cost.
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