The teachers’ quarters would serve as a home for some of the teachers in the community and provide them with the comfort and peace to deliver quality education to the children. “A lot of the time teachers transferred to rural areas are reluctant to accept their postings due to lack of accommodation. Those who acquire their own accommodation often have to travel long distances to reach their schools.

“The commissioning of this teachers’ quarters will make life more comfortable for teachers as well as provide them with a sound mind to teach our children,” Mrs Mahama said at a commissioning durbar held in Ampoma in her honour. She said the early childhood centre would also engage children between the ages of three to five years and make life more comfortable for working mothers in the community.

Mrs Mahama said: “Being mothers, our children need to be in school so that we can have time to work. This KG complex will, therefore, be of benefit to both mothers and their children”. She said children taught at an early age usually benefitted in many ways that helped improved their social skills and made them less dependent on special education during subsequent school years.

Mothers who enrol their children in kindergarten also have the space and time to attend to their economic activities in the interest of the family, Mrs Mahama said. She explained that President Mahama has committed, in his second term, to review and implement the National Policy on Early Childhood Care and Development and broaden parental participation in the implementation of that policy.

She said government would also continue the rehabilitation and construction of kindergarten facilities throughout the country, establish special schools in designated colleges of education to train teachers solely for Early Childhood Care as a means of improving early childhood education and reducing the burden on parents.

Mrs Mahama said: “The process of eliminating the remaining public schools under trees and abolishing the shift system countrywide will be given the necessary attention so that our children would not go playing truancy when they are supposed to be in school. “Similarly, the provision of free school uniforms, free exercise books and free footwear for needy pupils; expanding the School Feeding Programme to all public basic schools in rural and suburban communities; and ensuring an improvement in Special Needs Education, would be scaled-up in order to reduce financial burden on parents and increase school attendance.”

She said the Lordina Foundation in the last several years had advocated the need for all to have equal opportunity to quality education and other basic needs in life and, therefore, the foundation had been assisting some schools with computers and constructed a dining hall at Chereponi in the Northern Region.

She said other brilliant but needy students were also being provided with sponsorship packages to study home and abroad. The foundation, among other things, recently facilitated the building of the ultramodern ICT centre, with support from Huawei Technologies Ghana Limited, in Ampoma and also distributed sandals and school bags to the pupils of Anglican School also in Ampoma. Still under education, Mrs Mahama said the NDC Government, knowing the significance of education, had invested a lot in the education sector.

She said the elimination of the shift system, distribution of about 100 million exercise books to the public and the increase of educational facilities by about 26 per cent are evidence of the President’s commitment in ensuring universal access to education.

Commenting on the new Ampoma Market, the First Lady said President Mahama had indicated his strong desire and commitment to rehabilitate all markets in the country to make them places worthy of doing business. The modernisation of all major markets would continue to be government’s strategy for expanding opportunities for traders across the country, she said. “The commissioning of the Ampoma Market is a clear indication of the government’s determination to improve conditions and provide stalls for our market women,” she said.

She said the provision of the toilet facility was a step that advanced government’s vision to end open defecation by the year 2021.  Also, the party office for the National Democratic Congress would bring the NDC party closer to its members in Ampoma since administrative works and other party functions would take place there. Mrs Mahama urged members of the community to properly maintain the projects for future generations to also benefit.

Nana Baah Bretwum, the Nkronza Sumakwahene, on behalf ote Ampoma Chief, Nana Nyarko Kata, commended the First Lady and the NDC Government for bringing many developmental projects to communities in the South Kintampo Constituency. He said the various projects would go a long way to improve the lots of the community and its environs and pledged the support of the people to the government saying; “we all will vote massively for the NDC so they would continue the good works they are doing for the entire country”.

In the First Lady’s entourage were the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Kintampo South, Ms Felicia Adjei, Hajia Zenab Mahama, the NDC National Women’s Organiser, and Mr Eric Opoku, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, who urged the people to maintain the party in government to ensure continuity of the good work.