The Finance Minister Seth Terkper has announced that five of the promised 50 schools in the community day Senior High School (SHS) project will be completed by the end of August.
He also revealed that the remaining 45 schools are set to be ready in February next year.
[contextly_sidebar id=”CdhAvNUxq1fN2j4SohziO4eBJgF4mhZl”]According to the Finance Minister, the schools set to be completed in August include the ones at Nyanoa, near Adeiso in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region, the Krachi Nchumuru District in the Volta Region, Dema in the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region, the Bunkpurugu Yonyoo district in the Northern Region and Bameako in the Nzema East – projects which begun in March 2015.
“In fulfillment of government’s promise, the first phase of the 50 community day SHS program involving the construction of four-storey 24-unit classroom blocks or E-blocks in 50 districts are at various stages of completion. Five of the projects listed below are scheduled to be completed by the end of August 2015. These include Dema in the Tano South District of the Brong Ahafo Region, Nyanoa in the Upper west Akyem district in the Eastern Region, the Bunkpurugu Yonyoo district in the Northern Region, Chinderi in the Krachi district of the Volta Region and Bameako in the Nzema East district,” he said.
“The remaining 45 projects which were started in September 2014, are scheduled for completion in February 2016. The second phase of the 50 schools have been awarded for completion within 50 months,” Setrth Terkper added.
Seth Terkper revealed this while presenting the 2015’s mid-year budget in Parliament on Tuesday.
In March 2014, President Mahama cut the sod for the construction of the first 50 schools, as part of a total of 200 new Community Day Senior High Schools to be built across the nation.
The new schools were to be built as part of government’s commitment to improving secondary education and to help implement government’s free senior high school education.
President Mahama at the time explained that: “Existing secondary schools have a capacity to absorb only 60% of the students who qualify from Junior High School. Because of the high demand for secondary education, existing schools have been compelled to admit much higher than they were designed to accommodate.”
“This has led to circumstances in which there are some schools with as many as 3,000 students, twice the prescribed average of 1,500.”
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana