The Minority caucus on the Education Committee of Parliament is demanding the immediate completion of all abandoned educational projects across the country, especially the E-Blocks.
They argued that completing these projects would help end the “obnoxious” double track system which had come with the Free Senior High School policy.
They wondered what the government had used the US$1.5 billion it securitised the Ghana Education Trust Fund for in 2018.
According to the Minority, Parliament in 2018 approved a request by the government to borrow US$1.5 billion from different sources to complete critical educational infrastructure.
But the Minority after touring two ‘abandoned’ facilities started by the Mahama administration said the government must account for what it used the money for.
The abandoned schools they visited included Goi and Aflao Community Day Senior High Schools in the Sege and Ketu South Constituencies respectively.
At Goi, it was observed that work had been left at the first floor with iron rods erected for the second and third floors corroded as a result of its proximity to the sea.
Meanwhile, at Aflao, it was estimated that work done was about 90 per cent as all 24 classrooms in the three-storey building were completed with doors and windows fitted, electrical installed.
Ranking Member on the Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, speaking with the media at Aflao yesterday after the tour described the situation as “careless abandonment”.
“I am disappointed in the government because we approved a US$1.5 billion facility for GETFund to complete critical educational projects so why have they not used the money for the projects and where is the money?
“We will ensure that they come to Parliament and tell us what they used the money for. This is unacceptable. We are demanding immediate completion of the projects because that is what they took the money for.
“We can’t have facilities like this abandoned and our children don’t have classrooms to study in,” Mr Nortsu-Kotoe stated.
For the Member of Parliament for the Ketu South Constituency, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, completing the project was the most important thing to her now.
She appealed to the government to come to the aid of the students because it would help decongest the schools in the area and give many more the opportunity to have access to quality education.
On his part, the MP for Sege, Christian Corleytey Otuteye, said they were disappointed in the government for turning a blind eye to the project which would have brought secondary education to the doorstep of coastal communities like Goi, Lolonya, Anyamam and Akplabanya who all had to walk miles to Sege to access education.
FROM JULIUS YAO PETETSI, AFLAO
