General News of Friday, 29 September 2017
Source: citifmonline.com
2017-09-29
Ambrose Dery, Minister for the Interior
The Minister for the Interior, Ambrose Dery, has warned heads of the various second cycle institutions in the country to strictly adhere to all government directives on the implementation of the Free Senior High School programme or risk outright dismissal from the Ghana Education Service.
His warning follows concerns from school heads in the Upper West Region over the lack of infrastructure and other logistics to effectively run the government’s flagship education program.
Speaking to the headmasters of some selected Senior High Schools at the Nandom SHS on Thursday, he said, “you have to go by the rules and guidelines that you have been given. If there is any problem please let us know. If you take the law into your own hands, we shall deal with you because no one will be allowed to obstruct the achievements of this goal. If you are going to be an obstacle, we shall remove you”.
Ambrose Dery was on a two-day monitoring exercise of the roll-out of the Free SHS program in the region.
Mr. Dery, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Nandom constituency, said that “the success of the free SHS programme is necessary for our development and government will not joke with it.”
He assured critics that the government will do all it takes to ensure the success of the program.
“The programme is not going to be a flash in the pan, we will continue to monitor to make sure that what is happening is the right thing,” he said.
The headmaster of Nandom SHS, Rev. Bro. Joachim Naa, lamented that the school is grappling with series of challenges that are hampering on teaching and learning.
He said “we cant feed our students. The buffer stock company is supposed to give us bulk foodstuffs but as I speak, we have not received anything yet.” He appealed to the government to urgently provide the school with the needed infrastructure to meet their growing population.
“We are compelled to accommodate the first year students in an uncompleted building because the school was built to accommodate 450 students but currently has over 900 students.”
Rev. Bro. Naa was worried that “there is a struggle in the dining hall and we can’t use the assembly hall and students are compelled to assemble in the open.”
He appealed to the government to release funds for the completion of some abandoned building projects in the school.
Ambrose Dery visited Wa SHS, Lawra SHS and the Nandom SHS where he interacted with staff and students and some headmasters drawn from other districts in the region.
