Ridge Church School launches trust fund "Seeks to establish SHS component"

The Ridge Church School has launched a trust fund to support the operations, maintenance, capital expenditure programmes and other projects that will benefit the school and its learners.

The fund, known as the Ridge Church School Trust Fund (RCSTF), is specifically targeted at raising funds to open a private senior high school that will run an international curriculum by 2024.

The fund will be managed by trustees appointed by the Accra Ridge Church, Old Ridgeans Association and the Ridge Church School, who will operate it exclusively to mobilise funds for the education purposes of the school.

Strategic plan.

At the launch of the fund in Accra yesterday, the Headteacher of Ridge Church School, Nana Ama Badasu, said the school had a five-year strategic development plan which included building a senior high school and maintaining the school's facilities.

She said the ambitious plan required the creation of a trust fund that would ensure the execution of the strategic plan and mobilise the needed funds for all its projects and needs.

"We realised that we can't get the money in bulk, and there was a need to set up the fund that people can donate into from time to time.

And we have a lot of our old students who are always willing to donate funds to support the school, and so we believe that this trust fund will handle that," she said.

School

The Board Chairperson of the Ridge Church School, Grace Dede Hanson, said recent challenges in the educational landscape had raised the need for one of the first private-owned schools in the country to take a giant leap and become a one-stop school for all parents.

She said after 66 years since the establishment of the school, it was time to establish the fourth department, the senior high school component, which would be a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics-focused school, applying both the Cambridge and the Ghana Education Service curricula.

"To achieve this feat, we cannot rely on the ageing generation alone.

We are calling on all alumni because we need you to make this happen," she said.

Mrs Hanson expressed the hope that the fund would help the school to provide funds for capital expenditure, as well as offer scholarships and bursaries to brilliant, needy students in Accra and beyond.

Laudable

A Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Merley Woode, who chaired the launch, commended the management of the school for the initiative, saying the decision to establish the fund was a laudable one.

She said a trust fund was a legal entity that would only thrive through accountability, transparency and consistent stakeholder engagement.

Justice Woode, therefore, charged the trustees of the fund to manage it with such disposition, and to find innovative ways to generate income for stakeholders.