It is becoming evident that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) is struggling to locate most of the 123 community day Senior High Schools (SHS) that it claims to have built.
With the commencement of the 2016/2017 academic year, two leading members of the NDC had promised to submit a list of the total number of schools that have been completed, but had not been able to do so by the time of putting this paper to bed.
No Show
Last week, Eric Ametor Quarmyne, one of NDC’s leading communicators, who is on the payroll of the collapsing National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) – even on retirement as consultant – was on radio claiming that the NDC government has a list of all the SHSs which have been completed and promised to furnish Peace FM – an Accra-based radio station – yesterday but when he appeared on the ‘Morning Show’ programme, he said he could not get the list.
He said he personally went to the Ministry of Education, entered the various units, including the outfit in-charge of projects, but nobody could retrieve the list for him.
He, however, read out what is already in the media domain in the course of the radio programme.
Ablakwa’s figures
Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education, also promised to furnish the public with the list of the so-called 123 completed schools when he appeared on Joy FM’s ‘News File’ talk-show at the weekend, but up till now there has not been any communication from him, despite promptings by those who made the requests, including Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, editor-in chief of The New Crusading GUIDE newspaper.
Mr Ablakwa was, however, captured in a state-owned newspaper yesterday, saying that 42 community Day SHSs would be ready to open for admissions for the 2016/2017 academic year.
Most of the commissioned schools were the World Bank-funded ones while the Ghana government ones are struggling for completion because of unavailability of funds – the reason why the president cannot fulfill his campaign promise.
He said 10 had already been inaugurated while two -Agric Nzema Day SHS in the Ashanti Region and Nemonwora Day SHS in the Agona East District of the Central Region- would be inaugurated very soon, adding that 30 were at various stages of completion.
He is also quoted as saying that nine out of the remaining 30 would be completed before September ends and the remaining 21 would be completed before October ends.
Interestingly, on September 4, this same minister was on Citi FM saying he believed that about 70 of the schools would be ready to admit fresh students in the current academic year, and this even contradicted President John Mahama’s 123 schools.
This raises suspicion that in effect, only 42 schools may be ready by the end of the year to admit students.
The Mahama administration, as a major campaign message, had promised to construct 200 community day schools by the close of 2016.
The costs of the schools are also problematic as contracts were awarded without funding, compelling contractors to raise money for the projects.
Mahama’s Admission
On September 5, President Mahama finally admitted that he could not complete all the 200 community day schools he promised Ghanaians in his first term in office.
He had promised that 123 schools were under construction and that he could complete all of them before the December 7 general election, confirming skeptics’ perception on the grandiose promise.
“In my next term of office (from 2017), by the grace of God, we will complete all the 200 new senior high schools that I promised. As I said, currently, 123 are under construction, and that means that the Central Region will receive additional secondary schools among the remaining over 70 schools that we shall build,” he stated during the inauguration of the Abodoman Community Day Senior High School in the Agona East District of the Central Region.
Location Issues
The locations of most of the schools are likely to cause problems for the people the government intends to serve, leaving critics to wonder if the whole thing was carefully thought-out before the government rolled out such initiative.
Most of the schools are clearly isolated from the communities and some are cited in villages where the government will find enrolment hard to come by.
Chief of Buabinso, Nana Kwadwo Serbeh Agyemang, has even complained about one of the schools being put up at Kyekyewere in Upper Denkyira East, describing it as a misplaced priority for the people in the area.
He is quoted as saying that there are no adequate accommodation facilities at Kyekyewere to contain students who come from other surrounding areas like Tontokrom, Asaman and Ewisam.
Free SHS Agenda
The school forms part of the 200 community day institutions that President Mahama promised to establish during his four-year term in office but so far, less than 20 of such schools have been completed.
In June, DAILY GUIDE published that the ambitious promise by the president was not feasible, quoting an unnamed source, but the paper was as usual lambasted by National Democratic Congress (NDC) communicators.
As at June, the Mahama-led government had completed and commissioned less than 25 out of the 200 community day SHSs and the World Bank was sponsoring 23 of the 200 with the rest being financed by the Government of Ghana.
Reported lack of resources has conspired to rob the project of its progress.
In the ensuing confusion, the NDC government has not yet been able to tell Ghanaians the actual cost of each of the completed schools, not to talk of the entire 200.
By William Yaw Owusu