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The Jackson College of Education has commissioned a seven-unit classroom block at Danyame-Kwaem, a settler community near Obenimase in the Asante-Akim Central Municipality, bringing renewed hope for hundreds of children who had been studying in an abandoned poultry farm.

The abandoned poultry farm served as a makeshift classroom for the over 200 children who could not trek a daily round trip of 14 kilometers to access education at Obenimase which is the closest to the community.

Danyame-Kwaem is an isolated settler community made up of scattered cottages under cocoa farms with inhabitants who are mainly migrants from the Northern Regions engaged in cocoa farming.

A Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Obenimase, Rev. Emmanuel Dela Tega who established a church in the community saw the need to start a school for the children who could not attend school until they were 12 years because of the distance.

It was through his association with Mrs. Theodosia Jackson, Principal of Jackson College of Education that the plight of the children came to her attention in 2018.

Mrs. Jackson has since then adopted the school, providing the children with uniforms, footwear, food items as well as teaching and learning materials.

She also awarded scholarships to two young SHS graduates who volunteered to teach the children to study at Jackson College of Education to acquire the requisite skills to teach the children as professional teachers.

With the children crammed in the poultry farm with two or more streams sharing the same class due to inadequate space, Mrs. Jackson through the Jackson and DEEN Foundations went a step further to put up a new classroom for the kids.

It was a sight to behold on Thursday when the new classroom block was commissioned as parents and other stakeholders heaped praises on Prof. and Mrs. Jackson for bringing hope to the children whose future looked very bleak a couple of years back.

The ceremony was attended by prominent personalities like Mr. Ossei Assibey-Antwi, Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, Dr. Anokye Nkansah, Chairperson of the Asante Akyem Presbytery, Mr. Kwame Animadu Antwi, the Member of Parliament, Nana Ofosu Gyeabour II, Chief of Obenimase.

Various speakers took turns to pay glowing tributes to the Jackson family for their immense contributions to education over the years. Mr. Osei-Assibey said the Jackson family is an epitome of selflessness whose contribution to social development has impacted a lot of lives.

“This family has been transforming lives by embarking on one project or the other since I got to know them”, he told the gathering.

He said that is the way to build societies and urged other privileged families and individuals to complement efforts of the government to lift the vulnerable from the claws of abject poverty.

Nana Fosu Gyeabour II said the gesture by Mrs. Jackson and her family is a mark of pure compassion considering the fact that they are not indigenes of the area and called on natives to emulate their example.

Mrs. Jackson said the children irrespective of where they are also deserve education like any other Ghanaian child and must not be left behind.
She said she was touched by the plight of the children who through no fault of theirs were denied brighter future because of their geographical location.

“Let us support the underprivileged in society as a people in order not to breed criminals who may hurt us in the future”, she implored.