Tullow Ghana has commissioned an ultra-modern Kindergarten facility for the people of Krisan-Sanzule in the Ellembele District of the Western Region.

This is part of the company’s Sustainable Kindergartens Project designed to help communities with basic education.

The Project is the pre-tertiary component of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative which forms part of Tullow’s larger educational support program that spans from Kindergarten through university education.

The facility which is one of nine similar projects built in seven other coastal communities of the Western region comes with two trained teachers for each class, a playground, a canteen and a washroom for both teachers and students.

Speaking at the inaugural durbar, Operations Director of Tullow Oil Plc, Chris Roos said “This project is a choice by Tullow that we feel we are obliged to give something back to the communities we engage with and where better to start than the education of children.

“We are setting them up for the right future and making sure that they have the right environment to start with. Tullow Ghana believes education is the bedrock of every strong society and we demonstrate this by supporting education right from the Kindergarten to tertiary level.”

He added, “This is in line with our socio-economic investment strategy which focuses on capacity building through education and skills development, strengthening local and national economies and developing shared infrastructure by adapting and leveraging Tullow’s infrastructure plans and projects to benefit host communities.”

According to Mr Roos, the facility was designed with sustainable materials and teachers of the school have received training in the Montessori system of teaching and learning.

“We urge the people of Krisan/Sanzule, to demonstrate positive maintenance culture by supporting with the fixing of little things on this facility when the need arises to help extend the lifespan of the facility and make it useful for generations to come,” he advised.

On his part, the DCE of Ellembelle Kwesi Bonzoh expressed excitement and thanked Tullow for this modern facility. 

“This modern facility is going to make education very attractive to the very young ones so that they get a very solid foundation in their education,” he said.

He added that the Assembly, District Education Directorate, Parent Teacher Association, as well as the community, will work together to maintain this facility to last long.

“This facility has come to satisfy a very important need of the people, hence corporate institutions must look out for the needs of the people and solve them instead of doing what they think is right without considering the needs of the local people,” the DCE stated.

According to the Learning Manager of Sabre Education, implementers of the project, Peter Porekuu, the Project is both a school infrastructure project and a capacity-building one for kindergarten teachers.

“As part of the project, teachers of the facility received one-year training as well as practical in-class coaching to support their implementation of the Ghana Education Service Play and Activity-based Pedagogy.”

The commissioning was attended by the Chiefs of Krisan and Sanzule, Nana Nyanzu Kpanyinli III and Nana Asafo Boakye III, officials of the District Education Directorate, staff of Krisan/Sanzule D/A School, officials of Tullow and Oil Ghana and Sabre Education.