Accra, May 16, GNA- The Government is beginning the construction of a 3-storey 300-bed capacity Hostel Blocks in all the 45 Public Colleges of Education across the country next month.
Funding for the projects estimated to cost GHS485 million is from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education, briefing the media in Accra, said, the project, an initiative of the Government through the Ministry of Education (MOE) and its agency Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), aimed at helping resolve accommodation challenges in the colleges.
He stated that the projects, which were to be executed by 45 local contractors and expected to be completed in 15 months would be handed over to the colleges by August 2023.
Dr Adutwum said to ensure timely delivery, the GTEC and MOE were in discussions with GETFund to make available an advance mobilisation loan of at least 10 per cent of the contract sum to each of the contractors to move to site to start work.
The Education Minister said that all the construction works were expected to generate over 2500 direct and indirect temporarily employment for the Ghanaian youth.
Dr Adutwum announced that upon completion, the project stood the chance of improving effective teaching and learning in the colleges, which train a larger chunk of teachers for the pre-tertiary sector of education, which would in the long run lead to improvement in the quality of education in the country.
As part of the Government’s Education Reforms, all public Colleges of Education have been converted into 4-year Bachelor of Education degree awarding institutions.
This has necessitated the need to expand facilities to accommodate the increasing number of students and also improve teaching and learning.
GNA