Over 200 students within the Ekumfi enclave have benefited from trunk and chop boxes with groceries as part of a social intervention by the Member of Parliament for Ekumfi to support parents whose children have gained admission into secondary school.
This according to the MP for the area, Abeiku Crestsil is to make up for the short duration for which parents are supposed to organize and send their wards to school.
Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of the presentation, the MP for the area noted that this is not the first time he is embarking on such a project adding that a similar exercise was done last year.
“Looking at the situation we find ourselves in and the economic crises, it is very difficult for you to get enrolment and be given just two weeks or more to prepare yourself to send your child to school. We all know that our people are farmers, and they get their money annually, so we decided to do this as a social intervention policy to cushion parents,” Mr Crestsil told Citi News.
“Apart from the chop box and trunk, we are giving out, we also have Gari, Nido, and Shito among other groceries we have placed in the chop box of students,” he said.
He indicated further that he is hoping this gesture will be a motivation to other children living within the Ekumfi enclave to study hard and make the Ekumfi enclave proud,” the MP added.
Abeiku Crestsil also noted that he is working hard to address the issue of the high attrition rate in the district, which is contributing to the poor performance of students in the district.
“I am liaising with the authorities in Accra over the issues, and I am making plans to bring graduates who have just passed out from the University to act as a stop-gap,” the Ekumfi MP said.
District Director of Education Isaac Oscar Odoom who supported the gesture by the Member of Parliament noted that beneficiaries of the gesture were selected from across the Ekumfi District adding that the best two students with the best grades from both private and public schools benefited.
“This should tell you that the majority of my students have done well in this year’s BECE, and I am hoping that the gesture will encourage them to sit up. You know the MP is not only doing this for only students who have qualified to Senior High school, but he is also supporting 42 Tertiary students with one thousand cedis each to push them as they enter University,” Isaac Oscar Odo said.
For parents in the Ekumfi enclave who are mostly farmers, this comes as a piece of good news to them having in mind the current economic crises currently faced by the country and the difficulty in getting money.
“I am happy to have received this trunk and chop box from the Abeiku Crestsil because at a point I doubted my child would go to school after he gained admission because I didn’t have money, but the MP has given me hope,” Efua Adadewa, a parent told Citi News in Ekumfi.
