A children's learning initiative, dubbed KIM's Learning Sessions, has been launched in Biihee in Wa Municipality to promote reading and learning among children in the Upper West Region.
The initiative was launched on December 30, 2022, to mark the 10th birthday anniversary of the son of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mara Foods, Maria Johana Annie Yuorpor.
It aims at creating learning corners in rural communities for and with children to enhance their learning for improved academic outcomes.
The 10-year-old boy, Kieran Iqbal Mwinekumo (KIM), delivering a speech at a short ceremony to launch the initiative, said he is motivated by the desire to help his fellow kids to have access to learning materials to improve their education.
He said the idea of KIM's Learning Sessions was conceived when he follows his mother on community outreaches and sees kids loiter around.
He said, “I got inspired to start KIM’s Learning Sessions project after visiting some rural communities where Mara Foods organized some programs with women. I saw that the women came with their children for the program, a meeting meant for the mothers. I then thought, why don’t we have a program to engage the children? This is how the idea of KIM’s Learning Sessions came about.”
Mwinekumo said the project aims at guiding and helping children to read, write and learn some basic skills in ICT as well as sharing learning and reading materials with children living in deprived communities.
The KIM's Learning Sessions will engage children aged 4 to 8, and it looks forward to visiting at least one rural community each month in the Upper West Region.
“Volunteers, some who will be teachers, will guide and lead these learning sessions,” Mwinekumo disclosed.
At the launch of the project, a total of 120 children were given parcels of learning materials including files, exercise books, pencils, erasers, sharpeners and colour pencils.
On his part, His Majesty, the chief of Biihee, Naa Jaafar Pelpuo Naatasung who officially declared the project launched, said the idea behind the initiative was an intergenerational one whose prospects could propel the future aspirations of the nation, of creating an elite population.
He said the project needed the collective and concerted efforts of all to succeed, adding that commitment was key to ensuring that.
He called on the members of the Biihee community where the project was launched to wholeheartedly embrace the initiative to ensure it achieved its intended purpose.
Naa Naatatasung conferred a chieftaincy title, Buuhipie Naa – chief of a place within his chiefdom – on Kieran Iqbal Mwinekumo as well as the name Pelpuo, a prominent name of his royal lineage.
Mr Issahaku Tungbani, the chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the community, challenged parents and guardians to ensure their wards become like Mwinekumo by the time they also turn age 10.
He urged parents to closely monitor the academic activities of their children to ensure they learn after school as opposed to roaming about aimlessly.
The President of the Biihee Youth Association, Mr John Bog-dau also stated that the KIM Learning Sessions project has unending benefits for the children, the community and the nation as a whole and should be embraced as such.
He disclosed that the Biihee Naa had recently started a similar learning initiative – Marker Board – for Junior High School pupils and that the coming into being of the KIM’s Learning Sessions was timely and a perfect match to augment the educational aspirations of the community.
He also called on the people of the community to support the project which has been conceived by just a 10-year-old boy to ensure children in the community grow to have quality education.