The Municipal Education Directorate in the Weija Gbawe Municipality has received fifty life jackets from the Republic Bank Ghana for an onward distribution to school children at Faanaa in the Weija Gbawe Municipality.
Faanaa is an island community where children who want to access education have to go through the struggles of crossing the estuary using canoes.
It would be recalled that May 10, 2023, nine out of ten children who were returning home from school drowned on the estuary after the boat they were using to cross the estuary capsized.
The incident sparked a wide spread of criticism among Ghanaians as to why the children were not wearing life jackets, with the indication that the life jackets would have saved their lives.
This led to several organizations contributing towards supporting these children who cross the estuary regularly to school after the incident.
Meanwhile, the Republic Bank Ghana has followed in same
direction by presenting fifty life jackets to the Weija Municipal Education Directorate for onward distribution to schools along the estuary.
According to Claudia Koranteng, who led the team from Republic Bank to make the donation said the gesture forms part of the bank’s corporate social responsibility to support communities where they operate.
“We heard of the unfortunate situation sometime last year, and we reached out to the Municipal Chief Executive to donate to support the children who would be going to school using the estuary. As a bank, we are signed on to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and as part of our goals, we decided to reach out to communities that need support. We have presented fifty life jackets to the Municipal Education Directorate for onward distribution to children of Faanaa,” Claudia Koranteng said.
While receiving the items on behalf of the directorate, Municipal Director of Education,Charles Odoom advocates for more support for the children on the island community since the numbers keep increasing.
According to him, the presentation of the life jackets will help improve attendance in schools on the island community since most of them still live in fear he stated
“As a directorate, we appreciate the presentation by the bank. The life jacket will help improve attendance in school while improving teaching and learning,” the Municipal Education Director Charles Odoom said.
