General News of Tuesday, 4 May 2004

Source: GNA

Minister of Education inspects educational projects

Koforidua, May 4, GNA - The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports (MOYS), Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu has commended contractors working on the 16-billion-cedi upgrading Project of the Oyoko Methodist Agricultural Secondary School (OMASS), near Koforidua, for their satisfactory work. He gave the commendation when he paid an unannounced inspection visit to the Project Site on Monday as part of his programme to assess the progress of work on a number of educational projects in the Koforidua Municipality.

Accompanied by the Minister of the Interior and Member of Parliament for New Juaben North, Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, the Minister was led on his tour by the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Nana Kwasi Adjei Boateng.

Among the facilities being provided to upgrade OMASS into a model school for the Municipality included dormitories for boys and girls, an administrative block, staff flats, three staff bungalows, a home science block, dinning hall/kitchen, assembly hall, a computer centre and two blocks of 12 classrooms.

Mr Baah Wiredu reminded the contractors of the September deadline for the completion of work and expressed the hoped that they would work hard to meet the deadline for handing over.

He also inspected projects being undertaken with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) at the Koforidua Polytechnic, Koforidua Technical School, Asikasu, Suhyen and Effiduase.

Briefing the Minister, Nana Adjei Boateng said the Assembly had voted 816 million cedis, being 13 per cent of its budget for this year, for educational projects, while it was also executing 1.6 billion-cedi GETFund projects involving four blocks of six classrooms for the Effiduase Roman Catholic Primary, Okomeso, Densuano and Asikasu L/A Primary Schools.

He said the Assembly had also instituted annual supply of school kits to needy pupils in the Municipality and was assisting in the rehabilitation and renovation of basic schools through the donation of building materials to Parent/Teacher Associations.