Kosmos Energy Ghana, a leading international deep-water exploration and production company in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector has extended its social investment support to two special schools in the country.

The company on November 15, 2023, handed over 300 White Canes, newly constructed walkways, and a urinal facility to the Akropong School for the Blind at Akropong in the Eastern region.

A white cane is a device that allows a blind or visually impaired person to scan their surroundings for obstacles or orientation marks while also enabling onlookers to identify the user as blind or visually impaired so that they can take appropriate care.

Kosmos previously handed over a renovated 6-unit classroom block and Physiotherapy equipment to the Twin City Special School at Sekondi-Takoradi on July 17, 2023.

The scope of work covered the renovation of classroom blocks to provide a more conducive learning environment while the physiotherapy will enable the students who have cerebral palsy and other muscular conditions to exercise their bodies to improve mobility.

Kosmos Energy in a statement said the support for the Akropong School for the Blind and the Twin City Special School are additional beneficiaries of their humanitarian relief programme.

The commitment to support the special schools, the company said, began with the complete makeover and equipping of a clinic with wards, a hearing assessment centre, a consulting room, and washroom facilities for the Salvelugu School for the Deaf in December last year.

The statement underscored the company's commitment to the renovation of a 300-bed capacity boys’ dormitory at the Ashanti School for the Deaf at Jamasi in the Ashanti region.

The statement said these assistance programmes were to complement the efforts of the government, Parent-Teacher Associations, and school administration to provide much-needed relief to vulnerable children in special schools.

As a company, Kosmos Energy Ghana says it believes that these initiatives are more than just projects; aimed at investing in the education of children with special needs to ensure the realisation of their full potential as members of society. 

The Headmistress of the Akropong School for the Blind, Ms. Veronica Dery commended Kosmos Energy for the support, which she said touches on the most important needs of the students.

The students, she said, hitherto walked on the unpaved walkway and with limited white canes to go around the student population “as a result of which many of them missed their way back to a place of gathering and their dormitory.”

“Paving the walkway leading to the dormitory and other parts of the school, enough white canes, students could now move freely as the white canes communicate with the paved floor making movement easy for the students,” she said. 

Background

The Akropong School for the Blind was established in 1945 for the visually impaired and provides basic education from Kindergarten to the junior high school (JHS) level.

The school also has a vocational education department, music unit, and an adult rehabilitation class set up for people who become blind late in their lifetime. 

The school currently has a student population of 300, hence the need to provide students with white canes and construct pathways for safe walking within the school premises. 

In the Western Region, the Twin City Special School was founded in 1876. It has a student population of 200 and caters for the educational needs of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.