By Philip Tengzu, GNA
Issa (UW/R), Oct. 5, GNA – Mr James Wor, Daffiama-Bussie-Issa (DBI) District Chief Executive (DCE), has described the construction of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Senior High School at Issa as the single greatest investment in the district’s educational sector in recent times.
He said the project, when completed, would significantly expand educational opportunities for young people in the district, the region and beyond, particularly in science and technology education.
Mr Wor said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Issa when he recounted some interventions in the district since he assumed office as DCE.
“If that project is completed, that will be the single investment that has come big to our district because the infrastructure there is enormous.
It is going to be the first of its kind in the Upper West Region because in this region, we don’t have that category of school”, he explained.
Mr Wor added that the district had been allocated two Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, Bussie Technical Institute and Daffiama Technical Institute.
The DCE indicated that the district had also benefited from government interventions aimed at improving access to digital skills training, including the provision of 50 laptops for an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre at Daffiama.
Mr Wor indicated that the District Assembly had also undertaken a number of interventions to improve educational infrastructure since he assumed office, including the completion of some projects inherited from the previous administration.
Among them were a Kindergarten (KG) block at Bussie-Dobaziiri and a Junior High School block at Duang, which he said had been completed and handed over for use, while an outstanding debt on the renovation of a school at Sazie had been settled.
The DCE said the Assembly had also renovated a dilapidated school structure at Challa and handed it over, and a new school was being constructed at Jimpense, while a KG block constructed at Fian was near completion.
He added that the Assembly had also paid a contractor to complete a three-classroom block at Jimpense that was started in 2018.
On furniture, Mr Wor said inadequate furniture remained one of the major challenges confronting schools in the district.
He said to alleviate that challenge; the Assembly had recently distributed over 800 pieces of school furniture to schools across the district, comprising mono desks, dual desks and hexagonal tables for KG pupils.
“In distributing them, one thing I’ve done differently is that any school we want to supply, we just supply enough for the students. We started the procurement process to get more furniture”, he said.
Mr Wor said he had, as a personal initiative, distributed about 1,500 school uniforms, exercise books, erasers and pencils, particularly to KG pupils.
“That was my own initiative. When I went to some of the schools and saw what the kids were wearing, it was just an eyesore. I decided to intervene in that direction”, he said.
The DCE said the Assembly would continue to work with the central government and other stakeholders to address the challenges in the district’s education sector.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Philip Tengzu, GNA
Reporter’s email: [email protected]