Alliance One renovates Dowa school
One of the country’s tobacco buying companies, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi Limited has spent over K112 million to renovate Mtanila primary school based in Traditional Authority (T/A) Chakhaza in Dowa district which was in a dilapidated state.
Speaking during a handover ceremony held at the school’s campus, Alliance One Tobacco Malawi Social Services Coordinator Godfrey Chimenya said his company decided to renovate the school as one way of fulfilling its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program in the country which primarily focuses on uplifting peoples living standards.
He explained that his company also thought it wise to spend such a huge amount of money torenovate the school which based at Madisi trading center after realizing that it is also based in thesame area where majority of people grow tobacco which it buys annually in the country.
“As part of our company’s corporate social responsibility program, we thought it wise to renovate all the eight classroom blocks at this school which were not conducive for learning asthey were completely dilapidated. In addition to that we have also constructed a teachers’ officeblock, a laboratory room, a library, toilets and we have donated some 320 desks to ensure that pupils are learning in a good environment,” said Chimenya.
According to Chimenya, his company has been complimenting government’s efforts in improving the standards of education in the country through construction of new school blocks, renovations of dilapidated classroom blocks as well as donations of school desks among many initiatives.
He however urged the school’s management and pupils to take proper care of the renovated classroom blocks so that fellow learners in the future should also find the renovated infrastructure at the school conducive for learning.
The Alliance One Social Services Coordinator also advised parents and guardians in the area to avoid using children in tobacco fields as a source of labor but instead they should send their children to school so that they can become prominent citizens for this country in the future.
He further explained that Alliance One Tobacco always advocates for good agriculture labourpractices among tobacco growers in all the countries where it is operating around the world including here in Malawi which among others strictly restrains the use of children in any tobacco related work.
In his remarks, Dowa district primary school desk officer Joseph Chafukira commended Alliance One Tobacco Malawi for renovating the school which was first built in 1957 and was never renovated until this year.
“Let me commend Alliance One Tobacco Company for renovating and constructing some more classroom blocks here at Mtanila primary school which in one way or the other has helped toincrease the school’s enrollment as more pupils are now learning at this school”, he said.
According to Chafukira, Mtanila has always been the top most school in terms of secondary school selection results, saying for the past 10 years it has been the leading primary school in the district in as far as standard eight examinations pass rate is concerned.
Head teacher Francis Kaliati said the school has an overall enrolment of 1,987 of which 802 are boys and the rest are girls. Apart from renovating the school, the company has also bought officedesks for all the teachers at the school.
Apart from Mtanila primary school, Alliance One Tobacco has also previously renovated classroom blocks in other primary schools in the central region district including Kambokambo, M’bindo and Nambuma among others.
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