The newly built girls dormitory block for Nsein Senior High School. INSET: The WR Minister (M) being assisted by Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (L) and other officials to cut the tape to commission the dormitory block
TULLOW GHANA has commissioned an ultramodern girls’ dormitory block for students of Nsein Senior High School near Axim in the Western Region under the Tullow Free SHS project.
The 16-unit new dormitory block has the capacity to accommodate about 400 students.
In the year 2018, Tullow Ghana made a $10 million investment commitment to build senior high school infrastructure to support the government’s free SHS policy.
The company said it is committed to constructing 15 multi-purpose school infrastructure across the country.
Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Affairs Director of Tullow Ghana, disclosed this during the official commissioning and handing over of the dormitory block to Nsein Senior High School.
She said “Tullow Ghana will continue to work with the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to assist some senior high schools which have the most urgent need to accommodate qualified SHS students.”
She noted that the development of education in Ghana has been central to Tullow Ghana’s effort since its operations commenced in Ghana in 2007.
“Education will still remain a focus as we implement our 10-year Value Maximization Plan under which we will invest over $4 billion in infrastructure development and other corporate social responsibilities,” she stressed.
She said the oil and gas company is hopeful that the completion of some six classroom blocks and nine dormitory blocks within the free SHS project scope will provide space to enroll rural and poor junior high school graduates accessing SHS.
She added “Currently, Tullow’s education initiatives are implemented in-country from basic through secondary to tertiary levels with focus on developing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).”
Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, commended Tullow for the initiative and encouraged the company to continue to invest in social projects for the people to appreciate the benefits of hosting such big companies.
He also appealed to Tullow Ghana to adopt Nsein Senior High School as its flagship secondary school to make it a point to develop the school’s other infrastructure.
Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, revealed that the region has been the biggest beneficiary of the Free SHS policy.
According to him, the total number of students in the various SHS used to be about 13,000 and that with the introduction of the policy, over 27,000 students have currently been admitted across the region.
Headmaster of the school, John Mochia, enumerated some of the challenges the school is currently facing and called on the authorities to assist in addressing them.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Nsein