Dr Richard Selase Agboga, founder of the ‘Classroom on Wheels’ project under the Atomic Roundabout Interchange, says discussions are ongoing with social welfare authorities and complementary education agencies to address safety concerns surrounding the initiative.
The project provides basic learning opportunities for street-connected children who beg for alms and have limited access to formal education.
Speaking in an interview with Adom News’ Thomas Adjei, Dr Agboga said he had engaged the Social Welfare Department at Ayawaso West, whose officials had visited the makeshift learning space to assess the initiative.
He said the project had also held two meetings with representatives of complementary education agencies, who advised that steps be taken to gradually move the children away from the location, which he described as a danger zone.
“We have engaged the Social Welfare Department at Ayawaso West, and officials have visited us to see what we are doing. We have also held two meetings with representatives of complementary education agencies, who advised us to take gradual steps to move the children away from the danger zone,” he said.
Dr Agboga explained that the initiative was not intended to keep the children at the interchange permanently.
Rather, the approach is to help them adjust to learning, build trust and prepare them for a transition to a safer environment and, eventually, formal education.
“The idea is to allow them to become familiar with the learning environment, study for a while, and build trust with us. Once that foundation is established, we can gradually move them away from the location,” he said.
He added that further discussions with the relevant authorities were needed to determine the next steps, stressing that the agencies were aware of the project and had already visited the site.
Dr Agboga said the gradual approach was necessary to help the children adapt to change while ensuring that efforts to provide them with access to education were sustained.
