Government on course to improve facilities at senior high schools

Winneba, Nov. 30, GNA - The Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has assured Ghanaians that government was on course to taking bold actions needed to improve Senior High School education both in terms of improving access and quality.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said this at the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Winneba Secondary School at Winneba on Saturday. The theme for the celebration was "quality Education: a tool for National Development".

The minister said during the current academic year the first phase of providing additional classrooms, dormitories and other key facilities for senior high schools would start.

"The government notes and accepts that significant resources are required to make real the notion that quality education is a tool for nation development, especially at the second cycle level".

Mr Tettey-Enyo said that the Ministry of Education would provide a classroom and boys' dormitory block at Winneba Secondary school. He said this was in recognition of the efforts being made by the Parent/Teacher Association and the Old Students' Association to contribute to improving the learning and academic environment of the school. The Minister commended the old Students' Association for providing the block for ICT and a set of furniture for the school and urged them to continue to support government.

The Pro-vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Prof. Newton Amegbey who was the guest speaker, said Ghana would be successful in providing quality education if it could develop the mind of pupils and students to reason intelligently and make informed decisions and right choices.

The Headmistress of the School, Mrs Cecelia Kwakye Cofie, said the school, which started in 1949 with 21 students, now has student population of 1,200.

She called for expansion of facilities at the school since most of them had not seen any expansion since they were constructed 60 years ago. She academic performance of students at the school continue to improve annually over the past five years, adding that in 2009 the school scored 98 percent in the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination with most of the students gaining admission to the universities and other tertiary institution.