The GaDangme Council has launched an Education Trust Fund and a Strategic Blueprint to promote education within GaDangme settlements and enhance community development.
The Education Trust Fund is aimed at providing support and resources to people in need of educational assistance, with a particular focus on preserving and promoting the Ga and Dangme languages.
The Strategic Blueprint, according to Graphic Online, outlines long-term goals, objectives, and strategies for the future, serving as a roadmap for the growth and development of GaDangme communities.
The first-year target for the Education Trust Fund is to raise GH₵1 million in order to award scholarships to deserving recipients.
A 10-member Education Trust Fund Board was unveiled by the council, led by former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey. The board will oversee the raising of funds and equitable distribution of scholarships.
The Education Trust Fund board also includes the Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, academician, and retired Supreme Court judge, Prof. Nii Ashie Kotey, and university don, Prof. Michael Ayitey Tagoe.
Other members of the board are Dr Kwaku Sowah, Dr Regina Oforiwa Caesar, Lawyer Larry Adjei, and Dr Alex Glover Quartey.
At the launch event, the President of the GaDangme Council, Nii Ayikoi Otoo, expressed concern about the gradual decline of the usage of the Ga language within the region. He highlighted the lack of Ga and Dangme teachers in the region, making it difficult for the teaching and learning of the languages in GaDangme communities.
Nii Otoo explained that the Education Trust Fund aims to grant scholarships to needy learners and sponsor students to the tertiary level to study courses in the Ga and Dangme languages. This is to aid the teaching and learning of the GaDangme languages in various schools in the region.
He added that the Education Trust Fund would support many children in GaDangme communities of school-age who do not have the necessary support to be in school.
Nii Otoo also lamented the influx of Akan radio stations in the capital while the Council had been denied the opportunity to receive their frequency over the years.
He expressed his disappointment that they were only granted a community radio frequency instead of a commercial one and that they were unable to broadcast beyond Accra like other stations.
Sam Nartey George welcomed the initiative, calling for unity among the GaDangme people to find a lasting solution to the challenge. He emphasized that if a people lost their language, they automatically lost their culture.
He also called on the Ghana Education Service to take note of the situation. He pointed out that it was extremely heartbreaking that kids in schools in the Greater Accra Region were unable to receive tutelage in the Ga language, and that GaDangme teachers needed to be trained and posted to Greater Accra to be of good use to the people there.
Prof. Aryeetey said that the board members accepted the task assigned to them knowing that the GaDangmes were facing various challenges, particularly with education. He assured the attendees that they would work to change the narrative in the region.
Notable attendees at the event included the Asere Tsonor Mantse, Nii Kwao Donkor II; Ngleshie Adentan Mantse, Nii Ayikoi VI; and Adabraka Mantse, Nii Tetteh Adjabeng.
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President of the GaDangme Council expressed concern about the gradual decline of the language usage