New Juaben Municipal Assembly to end shift system
The New Juaben Municipal Assembly, with support from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) project, is providing additional infrastructural facilities for basic schools in the municipality to end the shift system.
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The move, according to the Municipal Chief Executive, Dr Kwaku Owusu-Acheampong, had become necessary to help improve the academic performance of pupils in and around the Koforidua municipality.
Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic, Dr Acheampong, who is an educationist stated, "My first priority is education, and I want to end the shift system in this municipality".
Currently, St Peter's Anglican and Archbishop Lemaire's Junior High Schools (JHSs), and nine primary schools in the municipality are running the shift system.
Preparations
Dr Acheampong said the assembly had revived construction work on a storey building project being funded by the GETFund for the Koforidua Presbyterian A and B, which started some years ago.
He explained that the building, scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, was part of efforts to end the shift system in that school.
He commended the Member of Parliament (MP) for New Juaben North, Nana Adjei Boateng, for using his share of the MPs Common Fund to support the construction of a school block for the Oyoko Roman Catholic (RC) JHS.
He, however, said, to completely eliminate the shift system in the Koforidua municipality, the assembly needed to provide additional school blocks for the St Peters Anglican JHS, Suhyen Methodist Primary A and B, Jumapo A and B, Jumapo Methodist Primary, and Oyoko RC Primary A and B, which are presently running the shift system.
He said the assembly was motivated by the example of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly ( AMA), which with the support of local and international organisations, was building ' Millennium Schools' for heavily populated areas in Accra, after the abolition the shift system of education.
He expressed the hope that local and international organisations would extend a hand of support to the New Juaben Municipal Assembly in its quest to end the shift system to offer a more quality education to children in the area.
Nana Kwaku Boateng Schools
During a visit to the Nana Kwaku Boateng cluster of schools, the Headmistress for the C stream, Mrs Joan Bagidah, commended the municipal authority for the move.
According to her, the running of the shift system was a disincentive, not just for the pupils but the teachers also.
According to Mrs Bagidah, the school has more than 2,000 students at the various streams at the primary and JHS levels, adding that, “At least, Block C alone has about 600 pupils".
"If we abolish the shift system, then all the classes will close at 2p.m. and not 12 noon," she said.
