Mama Attrato II, Queen mother of Ho-Dome on Friday cut the sod for work to commence on a three-storey students� hostel for the Ho Nurses Training College.
The GH�650,000 project is an initiative of the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the College and aimed at providing decent and affordable residential accommodation for students.
The facility will accommodate about 450 students.
The sod-cutting coincided with the commissioning of a school canteen and a wireless internet centre, all built by the SRC.
Accommodation for students is a major challenge facing the College with about 78 per cent of the over 1,000 students staying in rented apartments several distances away from the College.
Mama Attrato, who chaired the ceremony, said it was �unacceptable for government to snatch a hostel facility belonging to the Ho Nurses Training College for the University of Health and Allied Science� and appealed to the government to consider putting up a new hostel facility for the College.
�I know of some student nurses who are living in toilets converted into living rooms and they are paying so much. It is very sad and we must do something about it,� she said.
Mr Henry Ametepe, Caretaker Minister for the Volta Region, commended the SRC for the �display of patriotism.�
He described the hostel and classroom needs of the College as �genuine� and assured that government would address them.
Mrs Josephine Ansu-Gyeabour, Principal of the College, said the support of government and other benevolent individuals and institutions was needed to address the challenges.
�We, as an institution, have been doing our best but need the support of others to surmount these challenges,� she said.
She said for instance, a classroom for 45 students, was now being occupied by over 150 students with adverse effect on quality teaching and learning.
Mr Solomon K. Azomyan, SRC President of the College described the accommodation challenge as �hydra-headed� and said the students had been suffering in silence for so long.
He said some of the students paid about GH�400 for hostel accommodation in town aside the cost of transportation to and from school.
The GNA was told that until the commissioning of the school canteen, students ate in the open.
<<Print>>