The Dansoman 1&2 Preparatory School at Zamrama Line and the Salvation Army School at Mamprobi, both in Accra, are each to benefit from an 18-unit classroom block to be constructed on their respective school compounds.
The two structures, which are expected to be completed by June 2015, are captured under the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) Millennium Schools Project, an initiative aimed at eliminating the shift system in basic schools in the Accra Metropolis.
The new buildings will have a computer laboratory, library, washrooms, a staff common room and classrooms.
At a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the commencement of work, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the AMA, Mr Alfred Okoe Vanderpujie, said the school projects would be funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank.
He said in addition to the school projects currently in focus, 14 other millennium schools were to be put up to increase the number of such facilities.
Mayor disappointed
At the Dansoman 1&2 Preparatory School at Zamrama Line in Accra, Mr Vanderpujie expressed disappointment over the manner in which the school authorities were handling affairs.
At the time news reporters and the team from the AMA got to the school, the whole compound was littered with empty water sachets.
Moreover, heaps of rubbish were openly in a corner of the school compound, a scene that was against the vision for the establishment of millennium schools, the mayor told reporters.
The school authorities, who sensed trouble, had to quickly instruct the pupils to pick the discarded empty water sachets. But this they did using their bare hands.
Mr Vanderpuije expressed displeasure over the situation, and stated that “achieving high standards in education is based on excellence which must start from the environment.” He took the school authorities to task, and wondered how academic achievements could be transformed if the environment was not given priority.
He said education was not only about the buildings that had been put up but also about attitudes, and as such he expected school compounds to be a reflection in that direction.
“I have directed the education office in charge to take all necessary measures to ensure excellence in our schools, even if it means firing heads and teachers of schools that will lower standards,” he said.
Mr Vanderpujie, therefore, charged the school authorities to put up their best to keep the school clean. He assured them that his office would work hard to abolish the shift system by establishing new schools in the city.
“Don’t allow schools to be judged based on the community they are in. We have to transform the community through the schools and not vice versa. This school should be a centre of excellence and a shining example for the community and what we want our metropolis to be,” he said.
Sports centre for Salvation Army
At the Salvation Army school in Mamprobi, Mr Vanderpujie said the new facility was the third of such structures to be built for the school. He said the classroom block, when completed, would absorb the excess population of schoolchildren who intended to study in the school.
He said it was the vision of the assembly to make the school a centre of excellence. In that direction, he said, there were plans for the construction of a sports centre in the school to benefit other educational institutions in the area as well.
“We will build also a clinic and have a first-class sports complex in this school,” he reiterated.
Mr Vanderpujie urged the students and teachers to make good use of facilities available in order that future generations of schoolchildren would also benefit and attain quality education.
We will finish on time
The Director of Finance for Thy Will Business and Investment Consultancy Limited, contractors for the Dansoman 1&2 school project, Mrs Mawufemor Banini, lauded the assembly for its effort at promoting qualitative education in the metropolis.
She pledged that the project would be completed within the projected time frame for the children to have the opportunity to learn in a serene environment.
