TERTIARY EDUCATION FOR INMATES OF OFFINSO KIDS CENTRE (PAGE 15, JANUARY 6)

Eight out of the 70 inmates of the Offinso Children's Centre are pursuing various programmes in tertiary institutions in the country to develop their potentials.
This is to enable them to acquire employable skills and hold responsible positions to support sustainable and future socio-economic development of the country.
The Executive Director of the Offinso Children's Home, Miss Mary Osei, who announced this when a United States-based Offinso citizen, Mr Anim-Addo Sampong, presented items, explained that while some of the inmates were pursuing programmes in some universities in the country, others were in vocational and technical institutions.
The parents of Mr Sampong, Mr and Mrs S.S. Sampong, donated the items, which included clothing, pairs of shoes, school uniforms, assorted dresses, footballs, toys and stationery, on behalf of their son to the inmates.
Receiving the items, Miss Osei noted that 24 of the inmates had also gained admission to some senior high schools (SHS) in the country where they were building their capacity to enable them to enter tertiary institutions.
Miss Osei said the centre was keen to build the capacity of all the inmates to ensure that they were fully integrated into society in future and not made liabilities to the state.
She announced that the centre spents about GH¢23,000.00 per term to finance the education of the inmates and explained that the inmates were educated through internally generated funds.
"The inmates are catered for through income generated from the centre's poultry farm which currently has about 7,000 birds," she explained.
She said the income from the farm was not adequate to address all the financial needs of the inmates and, therefore, appealed to philanthropists, institutions, firms and individuals to frequently support them in cash and kind to sustain the education of the inmates.
She commended Mr Anim-Addo Sampong for his kind gesture and noted that the donation would not only reduce the problems of financing the needs of the inmates, but would also motivate them to focus on their academic work.
Earlier, Mr and Mrs Sampong had given the assurance that they would continue to interact with the inmates and motivate them to build their confidence.
They pointed out that society had the responsibility of supporting the needy in diverse ways and encouraging them to develop their potential.
"The disadvantaged persons can be encouraged and assisted to harness their potential to enable them to become assets to society, and they can only harness their potential if they are accorded the requisite sympathy, affection and support," they stressed.