Infrastructural Development of Senior High Schools to start soon

Winneba, (C/R) Nov 29, GNA - The first phase of providing additional classrooms, dormitories and other key facilities for senior high schools would start in the course of the 2009-2010 academic year, the Minister for Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, has said. The massive infrastructural development programme, he said, would however, take cognisance of the specific requirements and situation of schools.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said this at the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Winneba Secondary School, at Winneba, at the weekend. The theme for the Celebration, is "Quality Education: a tool for National Development." The Education Minister said the Government's plan was to improve the quality and the quantity of educational facilities to improve the standard of education.

Mr Tettey-Enyo said the Ministry would provide buildings for a classroom and a boys' dormitory for the Winneba Secondary School. "This gesture is also in recognition of the efforts being made by the Parent-Teacher Association and the Old Students Association to improve the learning and academic environment of the school," Mr Tettey-Enyo said. The Minister, therefore, commended the old Students Association for providing the building for the ICT centre and some furniture and encouraged them to do more.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, Prof. Newton Amegbey, who was guest speaker, said Ghana would be successful in providing quality education if it could develop the mind of pupils and students to reason intelligently to make informed decisions and the right choices. He urged teachers and professors to adopt the right attitude towards their profession, be disciplined and apply themselves to the tasks of delivering to pupils and students the right tools for national development. The headmistress of the School, Mrs Cecelia Kwakye Cofie, said the school, which started in 1949 with 21 students now had a population of 1,200.

She called for expansion of facilities since most of them had not seen any expansion since they were constructed 60 years ago. She said the academic performance of the students had improved annually for 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 institutions.