President inaugurates Dansoman School Complex
President John Dramani Mahama last Saturday inaugurated the Dansoman School Complex in Accra with a charge to other metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to emulate the example of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly ( AMA) in the provision of modern educational facilities.
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The complex, situated at Okpoti, a deprived area of Dansoman, comprises a kindergarten, primary, junior high and senior high schools and offers vocational and technical training as well.
It was the initiative of the AMA under its millennium schools programme, with funding in the form of a grant from the United States and the Chinese governments.
Facilities at the complex include science and computer laboratories, a library complex, a water treatment plant and an electric generator, as well as a brand new school bus.
Millennium schools programme
Under the millennium schools programme, the AMA has been building similar schools in Accra.
So far 10 out of the 104 schools have been completed.
The programme has ensured the elimination of the shift system in schools in Accra.
International co-operation
President Mahama said the project was an example of what international cooperation could do.
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He thanked the USA and China for providing grants for the project.
One of the three-storey blocks was sponsored by USAID, while the other was financed by the Chinese Government.
Highly impressed with the school complex, the President said, "This is what we call integrated education. "
"And so a child can start from kindergarten at the Dansoman School Complex, Okpoti, and finally come out of vocational or technical school with the skills to go into the world of work. This, indeed, is a centre of excellence," he said.
He said for a lower middle income country such as Ghana, "while you begin to have more super-rich people and a growing middle class, you also are likely to have poverty worsening".
In that context, the country was bound to have many deprived communities.
President Mahama said Dansoman, for instance, had prosperity on one side and poverty on the other.
‘’So one of the important measures the government has taken is to put in place social intervention measures to cushion the poor and vulnerable in society,’’ he said.
For instance, the President said, under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP ) programme last year, more than 75,000 households benefited from direct cash grants, adding that this year the programme had been expanded to 150,000 poorest households.
He called on stakeholders in education at Dansoman to ensure that children were in school without which the beautiful edifice would go to waste.
Accra mayor
The AMA Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpuye, gave an assurance that the assembly would not rest until all schools in the metropolis were brought up to standard.
He said education held the key to the development of the country so everything would be done to develop the sector.
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Member of Parliament
The Member of Parliament (MP) of Ablekuma West, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, praised the government for siting the project in her constituency, saying that " now I can't say that the President has not done anything here."