The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, has announced that five of the promised 50 community day senior high schools will be completed by the end of August.
He also revealed that the remaining 45 schools are set to be ready in February next year, an indication that only five schools will start the John Mahama-promised progressively free education for day students.
President Mahama, ahead of the 2012 elections, promised to build 200 community day schools by the end of his term in 2016, translating to 50 schools in a year.
However, almost three years on, only five schools have been completed out of the first 50 started last year.
According to sources, the community day school project is facing difficulties because of funding, and may likely throw the free education in disarray.
Government has budgeted GH¢45 for each day student to be enrolled in the free education project, far less than the current GH¢355 approved by Ghana Education Service (GES) for a day student per term.
According to the Finance Minister, the schools set to be completed in August include the ones at Nyanoa near Adeiso in the Upper West Akyem District of the Eastern Region, the Krachi Nchumuru District in the Volta Region, Dema in the Tano South District of the Brong-Ahafo Region, the Bunkpurugu Yonyoo District in the Northern Region and Bameako in the Nzema East – projects which begun in March 2015.
“In fulfilment of government’s promise, the first phase of the 50 community day SHS programme involving the construction of four-storey 24-unit classroom blocks or E-blocks in 50 districts are at various stages of completion. Five of the projects listed below are scheduled to be completed by the end of August 2015…,” he said on Tuesday.
“The remaining 45 projects which were started in September 2014 are scheduled for completion in February 2016. The second phase of the 50 schools has been awarded for completion within 50 months,” Seth Terkper added.
The minister revealed this while presenting the 2015 mid-year budget in Parliament on Tuesday.
In March 2014, President Mahama cut sod for the construction of the first 50 schools as part of a total of 200 new community day senior high schools to be built across the country.
The new schools were to be built as part of government’s commitment to improving secondary education and to help implement government’s free senior high school education policy.
President Mahama, at the time, explained that “existing secondary schools have a capacity to absorb only 60% of the students who qualify from Junior High School. Because of the high demand for secondary education, existing schools have been compelled to admit higher than they were designed to accommodate.”
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