News:
December 16, 2013
The Ministry of Education is to embark on an “accelerated programme” to complete all abandoned projects at the Peki Senior High School (PESCO) in the South Dayi District.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education, Higher Institutions, gave the hint at the 56th Speech and Prize-Giving Day of the School on Saturday.
About 300 girls of the school sleep in classrooms while 120 boys sleep in the school’s kitchen, due to its infrastructural deficit, the school authorities disclosed.
The Headmaster’s office is also said to double as a storeroom and classroom.
Some projects started in 1990 and the School’s emergency classroom block and Assembly cum dining hall, started in 2011, all remain uncompleted.
Mr Ablakwa said the company details of contractors who had abandoned work on the campus were taken and would be worked on to address the infrastructure needs of the school.
He, however, expressed worry about the falling standards of education in the region, and charged all stakeholders to work to reverse the trend.
Mr Ablakwa observed that the region, which was among the best three regions, placed last but one in the 2012 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE), and said those “glorious days” turned “appalling days”, must be reversed.
The Speech and Prize-Giving Day was on the theme, “Infrastructural development: A basic necessity for quality education.”
Mr Kofi Asare, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) Chairman of the school, said though PESCO was 56 years, it looked like a 10-year-old school, due to its infrastructural challenges.
Master Christian Blewusi, the School Prefect said a good number of students stand, while eating because the improvised dining hall cannot accommodate all the students.
Mr J. N.Y Agbai, Headmaster of the school said despite its challenges, the school scored 100 per cent in the last five years at the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).
Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Deputy Volta Regional Minister assured the authorities that the challenges would be addressed.
GNA