The new building. INSET: GES Director habding over keys to headmaster of Fumbisi SHS
District Chief Executive for the Builsa South District in the Upper East Region, Daniel Kwame Gariba, has called on parents and guardians not to be confused with the double-track system of education; rather they should prepare their children to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire education.
According to him, in its quest to ensure that every child that qualifies for secondary education gets access to education, government is still running the free senior high school system and no child should be discouraged from taking advantage of the programme.
He was speaking at a ceremony at the Fumbisi Senior High-Agric School to hand over a 1,500 capacity multi-purpose dining hall with a modern kitchen. The ceremony also saw the handover of a one-storey 250-bed capacity girls’ dormitory to authorities of the school as they prepare to welcome first year students under the ‘green track’ of the double-track system, including students who are already in the school.
The dining hall with a modern kitchen was awarded on contract on September 15, 2015, under the erstwhile NDC government and was expected to be completed in 18 months’ time at a cost of GH¢1, 493, 473. 48. The single storey building (girls’ dormitory), was also awarded on contract on June 3, 2015, and was to be completed in 18 months’ time at a cost of GH¢ 962,947.76. Both projects were funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund.
According to Daniel Gariba, the two facilities have come to reduce the burden associated with inadequate dormitories and meeting places in the school to handle the large numbers of students, saying “… the girls used to share the headmaster’s office block as dormitory. The era when the students used to take their meals in the open space at the mercy of the weather is now over.”
Fumbisi Senior High-Agric School is among schools that will be running the double-track system in the Upper East Region and like many others, it is faced with challenges, but the headmaster said the school was ready for the first year students.
Already the school has a total of 529 third-year students and 544 second-year students. There are spaces to take over 450 first-year students for the 2018-2019 academic years.
The headmaster of the school, Francis Adajagsa, commended past and present governments for their roles in commencing and completing the two projects, saying “the completion and handover have come at the right time”.
The Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak, was present to witness the handover of the two projects, which he said, were lobbied by him when he was a presidential staffer.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Fumbisi