The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) on Monday this week ended the school shift system at the Manhean Presbyterian Basic School with a commissioning of 10-unit one-storey building.
Each classroom can enrol 40 pupils, and the 10-unit school building, which has two streams—A and B—can enrol 400 pupils in all.
Yohane Nii Amarh Ashitey, the Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, handed the school building, with ancillary rooms for ICT, staff, a store and restrooms for both pupils and staff, to the Metro’s Education Directorate at a brief ceremony.
The building was started by his predecessor, Felix Nii Anang-La, and the MCE expressed his gratitude to the Tema Traditional Council for its immense support to his predecessor and him for the development of the area.
Mr Ashitey expressed the hope that the ending of the shift system at the Presbyterian Basic School would positively affect the abysmal academic performance of the school.
“From today, Monday, all the pupils will report to school in the morning and close at 2 pm. The teachers will have enough instructional hours to teach our pupils to give us better performances in the subsequent BECE,” Mr Ashitey explained.
He said the Assembly would support the school with more teaching and learning materials to improve academic performance.
Mrs Bernice Ofori, the Tema Education Director, on her part, thanked TMA for the expanded school infrastructure, with an assurance that the new facility would encourage the teachers to give off their best to the pupils because they would have enough contact hours.
“It is true our past BECE outcomes had not been the best because of the shift system we ran. We are going to work hard in the classroom to ensure that we perform better in our next BECE,” she noted.
The MCE, with the Education Director, members of the Tema Traditional Council and some community members, went on to open a lateral school building for the Presbyterian preschool.
