Residents of Azza, a farming community near Somanya in the Yilo Krobo municipality have paid glowing tribute to Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for commencing the construction of a School building to replace the old and dilapidated structure.
The commendation was made last week Friday, during a mini durbar organised by the Municipal Assembly for the chiefs and people of Azza, to throw light on the ongoing construction of the modern school building.
The old structure, which was constructed with bamboo and mud by members of the community in the year 2012 could no longer stand the weather and has, therefore, not only become a death trap, but unattractive for quality teaching and learning. The school also lacks furniture.
The boreholes in the community, which the pupils of the school were relying on is no more functioning, leaving the children with no proper source of potable water.
Caterers of the school feeding programme are now relying on water fetched from unhygienic source to cook for the children.
To the Azza community, the construction of the new school building has not only brought relief of uninterrupted quality teaching and learning, but joy of having a standardised school building.
What the MCE said about the construction
Speaking with The Chronicle, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Yilo Krobo Assembly, Eric Tetteh, described the commencement of the school building as the happiest day in his life.
The MCE indicated that his office and the office of the Municipal Director of education have suffered from insomnia, because of the dilapidated status of the school.
According to him, there was intense pressure on him and the education directorate to immediately respond to the falling standard of the school, following a media report.
The MCE continued that just when they (his office and education directorate) were brainstorming on how to source funds for the construction of the building, he received a telephone call from the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adu-Twum to report to his office.
MCE Tetteh disclosed that when he met the minister, he disclosed to him that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia read the story in the dailies and has decided to build a new modern school building for the area.
The MCE hinted that the Education minister further added the construction of two smart education centers in the municipality, to improve on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) studies.
He explained that the new school building, when completed, would have six classroom blocks, a library, a staff common room, a six-unit water closet (WC) washroom and a borehole with an overhead water tank.
Mr Tetteh believed that the project would help the community to produce high-profile people in the future and contribute to the socio-economic development of the area and by extension the country.
Project to be completed within six (6) months
The Project Manager of Sinotruk Limited, Mr. Albert Addo, assured stakeholders of his outfit’s commitment to complete the project within the six (6) months stipulated period.
According to him, one major factor that negatively affects construction is the lack of materials, a situation that they are not likely to experience because all materials needed are available on-site.
He explained that the collaboration with the municipal assembly, community and other stakeholders is positive and that the project would be completed in time.
Municipal Education Directorate thanks the vice president
On behalf of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Municipal Education Director for Yilo Krobo Municipality, Rev Peter Atta Bills expressed his profound gratitude to the Vice President for his timely intervention.
Recounting the challenges of the bamboo and mud JHS structure, Rev. Bills stated that the poor state of the school structure negatively affected quality teaching and learning.
The Municipal Education Director affirmed that the project will help improve academic performance and spark educational transformation among learners in the area.
