BIC®, a leading stationery company in the world, has donated 100,000 Cristal fine pens to the Ghana Education Service (GES) for onward distribution to deprived candidates who have been registered for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Presenting the pens on behalf of the company, the Business Development Manager for the Ghana-Cameroon cluster, Mr. George Nkonsah, said the firm, since its introduction in Ghana 40 years ago, had been supporting educational projects in Ghana and in many countries across the globe.
“Globally, BIC® has supported significant educational projects. In Ghana, we have partnered organisations like the USAID Partnership for Learning (FHI) in assisting 1.1 million Ghanaian students to read and write under the Partnership for Learning programme by donating 100,000 BIC® Evolution pencils 2 years ago. As a brand, we have also worked with the Daily Graphic to revive the culture of reading and writing through numerous literacy programs including the National Essay Competition,” Mr Nkonsah said.
He added that the company had closely followed government’s intervention in education through the Free SHS Policy which “has successfully helped over one million students in Senior High School” but was quick to add that “while this is a great initiative, some deprived students might not fully benefit if they do not have the best writing instrument to successfully write and pass the BECE examination”.
Responding to questions as to the reasons the stationery company chose the BIC Cristal Fine Point Pen during Secondary Education Improvement Project organised by the GES for selected journalist across the country in Larteh Akuapem in the Eastern Region, Mr. Nkonsah said the BIC Cristal Fine point pen was adored by pupils at the primary and the Junior High School (JHS) levels because of its fine point and because it has attributes “such as stylish writing, reliability, vivid ink, attractive orange barrel and also the Cristal fine point writes twice than its competitions.”
The Director General of the GES, Prof. Kwesi Opoku Amankwah, expressed his outfit’s gratitude to the company for supporting schoolchildren in the deprived areas with pens as the BECE approached.
He indicated that almost 500,000 students would be writing the 2020 BECE and that his outfit had put together a list of schools in deprived areas which would be at the receiving end of this kind gesture from BIC®.
Prof. Amankwah added that the “Ghana Education Service and BIC® will immediately commence the distribution of the 100,000 pens to the beneficiaries ahead of the start of this year’s BECE”. He further challenged the Education Desk Reporters and the company to help the GES in monitoring the distribution process so as to ensure that the items got to the target beneficiaries.
Gaspard Ayuureneeya.