Greek Minister of Defence, Mr Nikos Dendias, has visited St Nicholas Charity Foundation in Tema Newtown, following on from his previous visit this year. During the visit, the Minister promised to assist in building a football pitch in the future. This will be in addition to a basketball court, which is currently under construction. The Minister has taken a close interest in the school and has been very moved by the efforts being made to ensure the motto EVERY CHILD DESERVES AN EDUCATION is maintained. Mr Dendias was in Ghana for the United National Ministerial Summit to support Peace Operations, which took place on 5th December. He also held bilateral meetings with Dominic Nitiwul Minister for Defence Ghana and Minister of Foreign Affairs Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey. Despite the busy schedule, the Minister and his delegation, including the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Athanasios Kotsionis and Mr Evangelis Ntemiris ADC took time to visit the school to see at first hand the continuing progress being made by the children. The Minister was met in the traditional fashion with the school brass band and Navy cadet Corp marching him into the school and a church service held at the St Nicholas Orthodox Church, Tema. There was also a short cultural display, including a Ghanaian cultural dance, a Serra Pyrrhic Dance (performed at the Athens Olympics 2004), and memory verses by the smaller children. The Minister took the opportunity to visit the Basketball court which is being constructed from donations previously given by the Ministry. The court will be named after the Greek famous basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo. Mr Dendias was particularly impressed that both 2022 and 2023 graduates from St Nicholas junior secondary had all passed their Basic Education Certificate Examination and secured places in Senior secondary schools. He congratulated the school and staff for the hard work and effort in giving a chance to the children of the area living in disadvantaged conditions and for many the graduates will b e the first in their family, attending senior secondary school. In attendance were two former Ghanaian footballers of the Greek team Olympiakos Peter Oforikwe and Kofi Abonsa who promised to hold football workshops for the children. Dr Evangelos Kyriakidis of The Heritage Management Organisation, with the support of the Mellon Foundation was in attendance and is in Ghana embarking on a three-year programme for capacity development in the heritage management sector aiming to contribute to a dynamic sustainable ecosystem. Deborah Eleazar, Trustee of the UK registered charity took the opportunity of thanking the Minister and his delegation for their support and to also mention the founders of the school Captain Panagiotis Tsakos , The Maria Tsakos Foundation, Tsakos family for their constant involvement and help and Mr Evangelos Mytilineos , their Foundation for the classrooms, school bus and ongoing assistance with the contribution of the HC Mrs Marianna Gavriel. Each child was given a gift from the Ministe r and the children presented an original African Icon of the patron saint St Nicholas whose name day was being celebrated on 6th December to the Minister to celebrate his name day. Ongoing fundraisers continue in the United Kingdom with various organisations including the Baltic Caledonian Society, in the USA through King Baudouin Foundation as well as other initiatives. The school is anxious to secure the running costs for 2024 and to continue the good work being done. There was talk as to whether a study should be done on the school to see if the school origins and results could be used as a blueprint for other marginalised areas. Source: Ghana News Agency Kiambu County will in the next financial year increase bursary allocation for secondary and college education to Sh 500 million, up from the Sh 300 million that was given this year, Governor Kimani Wamatangi has announced. The governor said his administration has now tripled the bursary allocation from Sh100 million in February to an additional Sh100 million in June and another Sh100 million in November, making it Sh300 million, thereby removing financial obstacles that hindered countless needy children from accessing education. 'Kiambu is among the highest counties on the allocation of bursaries in the country, and come next January, we will be issuing the bursaries at an upward trend of Sh 500 million, and I want to categorically say here that the minimum bursary to be allocated will be Sh 5000 per student and not Sh 2000 as before,' he said. Speaking on some of the developments that he is focusing on in the education sector, the governor noted that he has initiated the construction of 180 modern ECDE c entres with PP1 and PP2 classrooms, offices, ablution blocks, and playgrounds, and this marks the first step in modernising all 524 ECDE centres in the County within three years. A feeding programme for ECDE pupils has also been introduced, the Governor said, noting that children will be receiving a bowl of porridge daily, three boiled eggs weekly, and a packet of milk every Thursday to boost their potential to learn and thrive. 'The three eggs, the governor said, will be distributed and sold to the County Government at Sh 18 for an egg, and this will be done by women who have been empowered through a programme of providing them with one-month-old local breed chicks. 'We aim to distribute 120,000 chicks across 12 sub-counties and target these women as future egg suppliers to support our ECDEs feeding programme,' the governor said. Still, in the education sector, Wamatangi said that they have revived the stalled Vocational Training Centre (VTC) construction to enable skill development and empower the youth . 'The plan is to establish a VTC in every ward, ensuring avenues for youth to acquire technical skills,' he said, adding that the county will also donate used vehicles to the youth to be used for training for those undertaking mechanical courses. Other support will be investing and buying machines for making Cabros concrete blocks, and the county government will be distributing materials for producing the cabros and, in turn, buying the product from the trainees. Source: Kenya News Agency
Menu