C/R: Swedru Salvation Army Basic School recieves new classroom block

Swedru Salvation Army Basic School in the Central Region has received a six-unit classroom block.

The six-unit classroom block was inaugurated by the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah.

The project was sponsored with funds from the OPEC Fund for International Development at a cost of GH₵424,000 and carried out by Delovely Company Limited.

Over the years, Swedru Salvation Army Basic School faced infrastructural challenges and that affected effective teaching and learning.

In an attempt to temporarily address the problem, the GES, with support from the Municipal Assembly in September 2017, moved the four classes to a pavilion at the Public Works Department (PWD) yard which shares a wall with the school.

The pavilion was partitioned to accommodate all the four classes, resulting in congestion and overcrowding in the makeshift structure.

A major problem was that the pupils had to cross the main Swedru-Oda highway on a daily basis to attend classes.

A sod-cutting ceremony performed by the Municipal Chief Executive for Agona West Municipality, Mrs Justina Marigold Assan, for work to begin on the new classroom block project on January 18 2018.

To inaugurate the project, a short ceremony was held last Tuesday where Professor Yankah emphasized the need to lay a proper foundation at the basic level of education to enable students to move to the senior high and tertiary levels so as to make meaningful contributions to society.

READ ALSO: Tertiary institutions to contend with 45,000 extra students under Free SHS policy in 2020 - Prof Yankah

He called on all key stakeholders to support the government to confront and address all challenges militating against the provision of quality education, particularly at the basic level.

Mr Yankah hinted on the danger of internet fraud, popularly referred to as ‘sakawa,’ in the area, saying it was pushing a number of young pupils out of the classrooms.

Also,the Agona West Municipal Director of the GES, Mrs Elizabeth Helen Essel, called on teachers of the school to address the downward trend of percentage pass among Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) students, which had persisted since 2016, adding that “I wish to call on teachers to go the extra mile to improve the general performance in municipality.”

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