Old Pupils Of Zorkor -Tarongo Basic School Donate To Their Alma Mater I McBashMedia

 

Past pupils of Zorkor -Tarongo basic school in the Bongo District of the Upper East Region have donated seven computers and their accessories to the Zorkor- Tarongo basic school to facilitate the teaching and learning of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the school. School Improvement Team (SIT) which is a group of voluntary and self-motivated members as well as past pupils of the school who are ready to contribute to Improving teaching and learning in basic schools in Zorkor-Tarongo, chaired by Mr. Christopher Amigangre Ayambire appealed to stakeholders in the education sector as well as philanthropists to come to the aid of the school.

The president of School Improvement Team, Mr Christopher Amigangre Ayambire added that it is a crucial desire of the association to support all basic schools in the Zorkor-Tarongo catchment area but due to limited resources, the group is starting with Tarongo Primary and JHS for now. Most of the members  who are past pupils of the school reiterated the urgent need for all past pupils who are far and near to join the good course given back to the school since that is where they all started their educational life from.

The Chief of Zorkor-Tarongo Traditional Area, Naba David Ayeta II thanked the leadership of the school improvement team for their kind gesture and therefore used the occasion to appeal to school authorities to make sure the computers were well taken care of.

The school  which happened to be amongst the first three schools to be established in the district in 1956 has produced quite a number of responsible people in the area, The school was performing very well in those days in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) but now the performance has moved from bad to worse due to lack of teaching and learning materials. It is in light of this performance that brought about the formation of the school improvement team in September 2020. Members of the group sat with the then headteacher and staff to know what was the cause of this bad performance and the headteacher mentioned amongst other relevant things like Lack of textbooks, and teaching learning materials,  No ICT lab and computers, Poor parental controls, Poor attitudes towards learning on the part of pupils, Poor structure of classrooms, Insufficient furniture for staff and pupils amongst others. The group therefore after hearing from the school authorities promised to help improve the teaching and learning in the school. In June last year (2021) the group mobilized funds within themselves and was able to buy one textbook for every subject studied from KG to primary six so that teachers could have at least some reference material to use. This year 2022, the group mobilized funds within themselves again and presented seven (7) computers to the school. 

The donation event which took place in the form of a mini durbar within the school compound was to appreciate those who have helped the school in the past years. The durbar was attended by the Chief, Tindaana, Assembly Members and a Cross section of the community. Also present at the durbar was the Executive Director of Naidvar Trust Fund, an NGO, which is  into music and culture, Mr. Augustine Anamsakeya Akugre.

In October this year, the NGO which has been owned by a past pupil of the school replaced the broken wooden doors of a five-unit classroom block with metal doors. They also presented 30 dual desks and six(6) drums to the school. Mr. Augustine Anamsakeya Akugre who happens to be an old boy from the school, presented desks and drums to the headmaster of the school. He told the school they were ready to support them in whatever ways they can to energize the pupils of the school to have a peace of mind to study hard to become responsible adults.

 Dignitaries at the durbar urged staff and pupils to make good use of the items to serve the purpose for which it was purchased The Headteacher, Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) as well as School Management Committee (SMC) members who received the items thanked the donors for their great effort. They also promised to take good use of the items. The Headteacher of the JHS took time to break down the performance of the school for the past three years;

2019 BECE  42% (30 candidates)

2020 BECE. 16% (56 candidates)

2021 BECE 21% (62 candidates).

He blamed these performances on lack of teaching-learning materials, Poor attitudes towards learning and truancy on the part of pupils as well as laziness on the part of teachers and poor support from parents and community members among others. 

He assured the team, PTA, Chief, Tindaana and the Assembly Member that he and his staff will work hard to increase the rates with what they have  received today. The Assembly Member for the area, Hon. Patrick Aduko also thanked the  team and asked parents to support their children's education very well. On the part of the pupils he asked them to concentrate on their books and stop  involving themselves in social vices such as smoking, taking hard drugs, drinking, and teenage pregnancy.

Filed By Major