Mariental mayor donates classroom

ABOUT 1 213 pupils at the Mariental Primary School have benefited from a new classroom donated by the town’s mayor, Billy Mensah.

Some pupils at the school are taught in tents due to a shortage of classrooms. The mayor, who is also a patron of the school, built the classroom at a cost of N$250 000 from his own resources, and donated it to the school.

The good gesture was part of his construction company’s corporate social responsibility, Mensah told

“I wanted to ensure that pupils have a dignified gesture, which will lead to better results at the end of the day,” he stated. In 2016, the mayor surrendered his monthly allowance of N$6 174 to the unemployed youths in the town for six months. He hired nine unemployed youths to clean the streets, and used his monthly allowance to pay them N$1 400 each.

The school’s principal, Manfred Morris Isaack, yesterday commended the mayor for helping to address the classroom problem at the school.

“It is a good gesture. One out of a million people will construct a classroom out of their pocket and then give it away,” he remarked, saying the additional classroom came at the right time.

Despite the additional classroom, he said, pupils are still learning in tents because of huge classroom shortages.

The new classroom, whose construction was completed in December last year, was put to use immediately when the school opened for the 2018 academic year, Isaack added.

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