Students of the rural town of Mfensi DA Basic school in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of the Ashanti Region can now compete favorably with their colleagues in well-resourced schools following the commissioning of a fully furnished library and ICT center.

The Moments of Glory Prayer Army (MOGPA), a Christian mission came to the aid of the 60 year old school after learning students had to perform abstract computer tasks because it lacked facilities.

The project comprises a library stocked with hardcopy books, a lab with 40 computers and a projector, store rooms, offices, washrooms and an overhead water tank.

The facility is expected to serve similarly deprived communities like Adankwame, Ntensire and other cocoa growing and ceramics making communities dotted around Mfensi.

Representing its General Overseer, Rev. Isaac Osei Bonsu; Pastor James Asiedu Mensah indicated that the intervention forms part of the church’s mandate to meet both spiritual and secular needs of its host communities.

“The Bible says for lack of knowledge, my people perish. We have the spiritual and secular knowledge. The vision of Reverend Osei Bonsu is that the children will be very well equipped to go through their secular education to actualize their God given potential, their calling and their destinies,” He averred.

Speaking to GHONE NEWs after a short ceremony to hand over the facility, District Education Director, Frank Duah Boateng underscored the need for rural children to be prioritized in the digital age.

“We all know the importance of ICT and reading in education and I can say that what is connecting the globe, is ICT. The provision of this edifice will go a long way to support teaching and learning of ICT and unearth talents in the children,” he underscored.

He told reporter Ivan Heathcote – Fumador, the library came in handy coinciding with a districtwide reading activation aimed at improving the functional literacy of students.

Headmaster of the Mfensi D.A. Basic School Nicolas Frimpong recounted how several students had to rely on a teacher’s laptop to have a limited feel of a computer.

“He described, “Most of the schools here, learn ICT in theory and when you get a teacher who has a laptop, 45 to 50 students will have to rely on that for practical work. We didn’t have good grades in ICT but with this, education outcomes will improve while the children also build their vocabulary and confidence with the library,”

The students expected to compete with well to do public and private schools were excited they could attain higher education outcomes in ICT and English.

Commending the leadership of MOGPA, Senior Girls Prefect Felicia Boateng was elated students could now enjoy the luxury of a personalized feel of computers to better appreciate ICT an essential course examinable for the Basic Education Certificate Examination.

“It was very difficult when we only had to read from text books and memorize computing but we now have a computer lab to perform our practical tasks,”

A head boy, Oliver TEI pointed out, “some courses need materials and equipment to make it easier and more practical to study. We are glad we now have this lab to support our studies.”

The church is further constructing bore holds and a three unit classroom block to support the Abrafo Kokoben community in the District.

By: Ivan Heathcote – Fumador.