Accra, July 8, GNA – The Ministry of Education has started making provisions in its budget to secure funding for the fencing of public schools.
Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a Deputy Minister of Education, said the measure has become necessary to prevent encroachment on government lands.
‘Numerous school lands especially those in the cities and urban centres are being lost to encroachers almost every year, with the result that it has even become extremely difficult for government to carry out expansion of educational facilities, especially in public basic schools in certain locations of the country,’ the Deputy Minister said.
Answering questions on the floor of Parliament in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Ablakwa said the situation at the senior high school level is even more alarming.
‘Senior high schools in Accra, Kumasi and Sekondi have all regrettably had their fair share of encroachment.’
Mr Johnson Kwaku Adu, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Ahafo Ano West, asked what plans the Ministry had to fence the Mankranso Senior High School in the Ahafo Ano South of the Ashanti Region.
Mr Ablakwa observed that the practice of encroachment had reached certain proportions that there are now certain instances of private housing properties right in the heart of compounds of some schools.
The Deputy Minister said fencing of schools is very expensive when compared with other important facilities such as classrooms, dormitories and science labs which he said are competing with resources.
Nevertheless, the Ministry, is in the process of updating its data on all affected schools for the implementation of the fencing in phases.
‘Mankranso Senior High School will be considered long with others when implementation begins,’ Mr Ablakwa said.
There was however no written answer to a question which was to be asked by Mr Frank Annnor- Dompreh (NPP MP – Nsawam Adoagyiri), and the question which had been asked for the second time was deferred to the following day on the explanation from Alhaji Muntaka Mubarak, Majority Chief Whip, that there was some ‘technical challenges’ in providing the answer.
Mr Annor-Dompreh had sought to know from the Minister of Youth and Sports what plans the Ministry had to empower the National Youth Authority towards addressing the problem of unemployment.
The technical challenge, according to Majority Chief Whip, stemmed from the fact that there had not been any communication to the House on who is responsible for the Ministry.
He, however, gave the assurance that the ‘challenge’ would be worked on for an answer on Wednesday, July 9.
Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, (NPP MP -Yendi) made a statement on the period of fasting in the month of Ramadan.
He extolled the religious, spiritual, therapeutic benefits of fasting.
The House also adopted the Report of the Committee of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Annual Report of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice for the year 2010, which was moved on June 26, 2014.
GNA EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.