Parliamentary Select Committee on Education tours selected schools in VR

Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education last Tuesday concluded a two-day tour of selected schools in the Volta Region to gain first-hand information on the challenges facing them and make appropriate recommendations to the government to resolve them.

Led by the chairman of the committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, the team visited the Bishop Herman College, Kpando; the Awudome Senior High School, Tsito; the Mawuli School, Ho; the OLA Senior High School, Ho and the E.P. University College (EPUC) in Ho.

At the Mawuli School last Tuesday, the Headmaster, Benjamin Yawo Dei, told the MPs that the school, which was established in 1950, now runs courses in General Science, Agricultural Science, Business, Visual Arts, Home Economics and Technical.

He said the Mawuli School had an enrolment of 4,961, including 4,383 boarders and 578 day students.

The mixed school, Mr Dei said, had a total staff of 309, made up of 224 teachers and 85 non-teaching staff.

For now, the headmaster said the school wished to be out of the transition system, but inadequate infrastructure had inhibited the realisation of that desire.

“We have a total of 96 classrooms, and we will need at least 32 extra classrooms to be able to exit the transition system,” he revealed.

Meanwhile, Mr Dei said the school needed more accommodation for the staff, adding only 43 were resident on campus

He said among the challenges facing the school were the lack of adequate furniture for the classrooms and the dining hall, the lack of a school bus and pick-up vehicle, as well as inadequate funding for the 38 pre-paid electricity meters.

At OLA Ho, the Headmistress, Benedicta Agbezudor, told the team that the school, with an enrolment of 4,561 and 219 staff members, including 155 teachers and 64 non-teaching staff, faced severe infrastructure challenges ranging from the classrooms, dining hall, laboratories and staff accommodation.

“The dormitories and classrooms are so chocked that the girls do not have the space for effective academic work,” she told the MPs.

“Meanwhile, the students do not sit in the dining hall before eating since they have to attend dining in batches,” the headmistress disclosed.

The team ended the tour at the EPUC, where the President, Professor Tsatsu Adogla-Bessa, appealed to the government to extend financial support and to waive taxes on the institution to promote its growth.

He said the government could also establish a research fund for disadvantaged universities to raise their research outputs.

Mr Nortsu-Kotoe assured the institutions that once the team had identified their challenges at first-hand, a solution would be in sight soon.