The Kanton Senior High Secondary School has harvested 30 bags of maize and three and a half bags of soybean from a two-acre farm cultivated as a pilot to help alleviate their food problems. Mr Mohammed Kanton, the headmaster of the school who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said the objective was to supplement students feeding and to let students know that farming was scientific so that some of them if not all could engage in farming in future after school since agriculture was an attractive venture. Mr Kanton said, 'We cultivated two units (acre) of maize and one unit (acre) of soya beans for the start of our pilot project with the hope of improving as the years go by'. 'For the maize, we have brought home thirty bags as our yield of harvest whilst the soybeans realised was three and a half bags. Tractor ploughing for the three acres, fertilizer, and purchase of seeds, was borne by the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), which supported the project in providing the resources needed', he explained. Th e PTA chairman of the school, Mr Abubakar Suleiman and the executives supported the project whilst the students provided minimal labour after classes and during weekends. Mr Jacob Batong Mahamud, the Senior house master in an interview with the GNA, said, 'We realized that farming is a good venture and could actually support individuals and families if the right agronomic practices were carried out for students to see and for a school particularly, labour was not stressful as students went to work in batches for less than an hour for the size of the farm occasionally'. Mr Mahamud, 'I must say my headmaster led the crusade of 'Operation feed Yourself' with the PTA which in my view was positive'. He expressed hope that with the necessary support and interest in agriculture more crops could be cultivated and harvested. Source: Ghana News Agency Imenti North Legislator, Rahim Dawood, has applauded the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation for providing full scholarships to some of the neediest students in the Constituency. During the commissioning of the scholarship program at Kinoru Day Secondary School, Rahim emphasized the potential of the move to enhance education in the most remote and needy areas of the Constituency, ultimately improving their economic status. He highlighted that, today's scholarships are crucial as they cover fees, uniforms, upkeep, and transport expenses for students to and from their schools. This cannot be compared to the bursaries that are usually issued by the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF),' said Mr Rahim. He added that the scholarship will go a long way in ensuring that the beneficiaries acquire education and meet their future life aspirations. The MP continued to shade more light on the importance of preventing peer pressure during secondary school, as it often leads to trouble for beneficiaries. 'T hese are the few who are chosen but it didn't mean that all those unsuccessful applied were not needy. We are, therefore, calling on other goodwill individuals or organisations to chip- in and sponsor a few other students in the spirit of boosting our literacy levels.' Rahim called on the Ministry of Finance through the treasury to release NG-CDF funds as soon as possible to issue bursaries to learners who have always depended on the same for their education. Imenti North Sub- County Director of Education, Joseph Njeru, who was the Secretary to the County Selection Advisory Committee, said they received a total of 284 applications and most of them needed support. He, however, said the foundation could not sponsor all of them which means that there is a need for more interventions so that the needy learners can have access to education. The Ministry of Education set criteria for 31 beneficiaries, including assessing orphan status, poverty index, disability cases, chronic diseases, and marginalization in fa milies. Source: Kenya News Agency
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