President John Mahama
President John Dramani Mahama, on Thursday said that all new districts had been prioritized to get one new senior high school each.
Those already with schools, would have the facilities expanded to allow for more intakes to cater for the increasing number of children who were unable to get placement to schools.
President Mahama said out of a total of 123 new second cycle schools that would be built, 50 of them would be in new districts and other districts and communities that had been prioritized as a result of expanding catchment areas in terms of Junior High Schools in the communities.
President Mahama said this in Bolgatanga where he met with the Upper East House of Chiefs as part of his tour of the Region.
The tour named, Changing Lives and Transforming Ghana Tour, is the sixth of the President’s regional tours, aimed at consulting and informing the traditional authorities of the renewal of his mandate to contest the 2016 Presidential Elections on the ticket of the NDC Party.
The President said the World Bank was financing 23 of the schools while the government of Ghana would build 50 more schools and the rest awarded in phases.
The President said the 123 schools being built, when completed would raise the number of existing schools to 240,000 Secondary Schools and would provide children in the country opportunities to access schools in their communities.
He said even though many children passed the WASSCE to go to secondary schools, they were not placed and therefore the new schools when completed would give them opportunities to go to school.
“We are expanding existing facilities all over the country, building hostels, classrooms to allow them take in more and that would increase the number of new secondary places created to 300,000 in the overall projection.
Naaba Sigri Bewong , Paramount Chief of Sekoti Traditional Area and President of the Upper East House of Chiefs, commended the President for the hard work he was doing, wooing investors to the country, as well as the high number of development projects being implemented in the country.
The President of the House lamented on the poor roads in the region and called for a quick intervention to fix them up.
He urged the President to endeavor to address the electricity crisis in the country, ensure the regional hospital project was accomplished, and help chiefs with transportation to ease traveling from distant areas to attend functions of the House.
Naba Bewong enumerated a number of chieftaincy disputes in the Region notably, Paga, Mirigu, Sirigu,Kologo and recently Bolgatanga and added that though the House started with mediation efforts, some were not successful.
He thanked the security agencies for maintaining peace and order in the Region and noted that the high number of conflicts in the Region was because of lack of clear guide lines of succession and said when these were in place conflict would be reduced.
He noted that seven members of the Bawku Traditional council joined the House, four from the Builsa area and the latest being the Chief of Tongo.
