By Iddi Yire
Accra, Sept. 12, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama has inspected the ongoing construction works on five Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) funded projects at Han Senior High School (SHS) as part of his two-day Resetting Ghana Tour of the Upper West Region.
The primary purpose of the President’s Resetting Ghana Tour is to bring governance closer to the grassroots, inspect ongoing infrastructure projects, and directly engage citizens and traditional leaders on national development priorities.
President Mahama said the school was established several years ago as a Community Day Senior High School but announced government’s plans to convert the day school into a boarding one.
“Our intention now is to apply the community day school concept in high-density population areas, where children can live at home and travel easily to school.”
He said the Government would give Han SHS a boarding status by building the necessary facilities like boys’ and girls’ dormitories, saying “so you should know that boarding status is on the way”.
President Mahama said for schools located in rural communities with large catchment areas; would convert them into boarding schools so that students could reside on campus.
“Once the contractors complete these projects, we will officially redesignate this school as a boarding school, and you can begin admitting boarding students.”
President Mahama said these were GETFund projects financed with the hard-earned money of Ghanaian taxpayers, adding that he had approved a new $300 million World Bank facility to bring an end to the double-track system.
The President said for schools that were still operating double track would have their facilities expanded for all students to attend school at the same time.
He said they were also constructing 16 brand-new senior high schools to reduce congestion in the existing schools under the same programme and hoped that by the end of 2027, no Ghanaian child would be on the double-track system.
He noted that they believe this would increase contact hours between teachers and students and help improve academic performance when they eventually write the West Africa Senior School Certificate (WASSCE).
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade/Linda Asante Agyei