A former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and former Ambassador to five (5) countries including South Africa, H. E. Charles Owiredu, has begun a ‘one school, one computer’ initiative in the Birim North District of the Eastern Region.
The initiative is a plan to ensure public schools in the area acquire desktop computers starting from Afosu.
Speaking at a durbar ground at Afosu, Mr. Owiredu stated that, “education is not an individual responsibility”.
He acknowledged that government, teachers, parents and lastly, students comprise the four (4) pillars of the entire education enterprise in the country.
According to Mr. Owiredu, “these four pillars, together, constitute education inasmuch as each of them has a role to play and thus, in the absence of one, education becomes fragmentary”.
The former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs used himself as an illustrative example to elaborate on the roles of a student, teacher, parent and government respectively.
“Once upon a time, I was a student. I became a teacher at some point because I had completed teacher training college. I was posted to a station where I taught for five (5) years. Again, I am a parent and finally, I was appointed as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs hence, Government. I have performed these four (4) roles”, he said.
Earlier this year, videos and pictures of a school building in Afosu were sent by the School’s Headteacher to Mr. Charles Owiredu.
The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, as a governmental role, visited the school to witness the poor conditions under which teaching and learning were being held.
According to him, “I agreed to paint the school building”.
He added that when he got to the office of the headteacher, there was no computer.
Upon collective grievance, he agreed to provide computers, printers and A4 sheets to public schools in Afosu adding that same quantity of items will be shared among other public schools in the district.
Among the beneficiaries of this initiative are the Catholic Primary, Presby Primary, D/A Primary, Islamic Primary, Methodist Primary, Martyrs of Uganda, Presby JHS, D/A JHS, Islamic JHS, CRIG JSS, Afosu Secondary School and the Afosu Nursing school including Afosu Palace and the Police unit.
Additionally, he has planned to paint the residence of the Traditional Council (Ahenfie) and lastly, that of the Ghana Police Service.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to chiefs, teachers and all indigenes of Afosu for their unison in developing the district.
The Chairman for the occasion, the chief of Afosu Nana Kofi Owusu Anoh II expressed much gratitude for such support saying this has been the first of its kind since he resumed the seat as chief.
The District Director of Education Rosemond Antwi showing appreciation to Charles Owiredu also called for the need to support the Education Directorate in Birim North.
