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The Paramount Chief of the Aflao Traditional Area, Torgbui Amenya Fiti V, has asked the government to complete and put to good use the Aflao Community Day Senior High School (SHS) from the next academic year which starts in February.
Torgbui Amenya Fiti V said the lack of an SHS in the area was inhibiting the potential of students in the area and truncating their academic progression.
Interacting with the Minority caucus on the Education Committee in his palace here in Aflao on Tuesday, the Paramount Chief said the situation was forcing children in the area into crime.
“Take the message to the Minister of Education that come February, want that school opened so that my people can also have SHS education,” he demanded.
According to Torgbui Fiti, the E-Block project which was started under the John Mahama administration was 90 per cent complete, but claimed the government had turned a blind eye to it giving thieves a field day to steal fitted items.
“Now there is a free SHS programme but my people are not benefiting because we don’t have any SHS,” he bemoaned.
He observed that after their basic education, the next option available to children in the area was to go and work as head potters at the border.
“Aflao is the only urban community in Ghana without a SHS but day-in day-out, only negative stories are told about the area.
“People won’t come and find out why people of Aflao are always reported to be thieves, and smugglers. This is because there are no schools for them to further their education.
“This is something the government needs to investigate to see the root cause of the behaviour of the youth in Aflao,” Torgbui Amenya Fiti V said.
Despite the neglect, he said, Aflao served as a huge revenue generation hub for the country through the boarder.
To him, children of Aflao had the potential to do well academically because even without any secondary school in the area like other communities, they had managed to produce Komla Dumor and Abla Gomashie amongst others.
The Ranking Member on the Committee and Member of Parliament for Akatsi Constituency, Peter Kotoe-Nortsu, who led the team to tour some ‘abandoned’ educational infrastructural projects in the Volta and Eastern Regions said they would push for the Aflao project to be completed.
Mr Kotoe-Nortsu said it was unfortunate that after the government securitised proceeds from the Ghana Education Trust Fund for critical educational infrastructure, projects across the country, some at advanced stages of completion, were yet to receive any attention from the government.
He hinted that they would file a question in Parliament to demand answers from the Education Minister on what the money was used for.
FROM JULIUS YAO PETETSI, AFLAO
