By Stephen Asante
Accra, Nov. 21, GNA – President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Thursday led a nationwide commissioning of some 80 educational projects to underpin the Government’s educational transformation agenda.
Supervised by the Ministry of Education, the projects cut across the kindergarten, basic and second-cycle levels, providing state-of-the-art facilities for a conducive learning environment.
They span the construction of new classroom blocks (18, 12, six, three and two unit blocks), dormitories, libraries, computer labs, science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) centres, as well as TVET-Applied Technical and Fashion schools.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, inaugurated a six-unit rehabilitated block of the St. Barnabas Anglican Basic School, at Osu, Accra, to symbolically unveil the landmark projects across the country.
He emphasised that his administration believed that education held the key to Ghana’s progress.
“These classrooms are not just buildings, but spaces of possibilities where dreams are nurtured and talents discovered,” he noted.
The St. Barnabas Anglican Basic School has over the years seen its facilities deteriorated, impacting negatively on the quality of educational delivery.
President Nana Akufo-Addo said that the unfortunate situation and other existential threats emanating from having to conduct academic activities in dilapidated structures, necessitated his administration’s bold decision to embark on a mass construction of new facilities.
The Government estimates that more than 2000 educational facilities, including 217 new science labs and 32 e-block projects, had been completed nationwide in the last eight years, while some 2, 690 vehicles had been distributed for educational purposes.
Additionally, more than five million students had benefitted from the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, costing the Government some GHS12 billion.
The President said the bold initiative aimed to remove financial barriers that previously prevented many young Ghanaians from continuing their education beyond the junior high school level.
“Education has been a cornerstone of my administration’s agenda,” the President emphasised, narrating the transformative power of literacy in any society’s advancement.
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Minister of Education, said the new structures constructed provided students with the requisite infrastructure needed to build their skills for the 21st Century.
“We have introduced new teaching and learning models and techniques to ensure our students become competitive at the global stage,” he noted.
The idea, he said, was to inculcate in the students that growth and the can-do mindset, “so that they can be the best in their educational endeavours wherever they are”.
GNA