Mozano (C/R), March 30, GNA - The Ministry of Education Science and Sports has outlined plans to improve and expand facilities of senior high schools (SHS) in the country.

Apart from providing infrastructure the ministry would also improve the service conditions of teachers.

Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, Deputy Minister of Education Science and Sports, said this at the Second Annual Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Mozano Senior High School at Mozano in the Gomoa West District.

She said as part of the programme, the ministry had started providing the schools with science laboratories, libraries, hostels, classroom blocks, practical training centers and buses.

"Less endowed schools should therefore not consider themselves as unfortunate educational institutions," Mrs Baiden-Amissah said.

"Since the children of today are expected to be the builders of tomorrow's Ghana, it is essential that the nation gives them better training academically, technically and vocationally to get the requisite knowledge and skills for the advancement of the country's industrial sector". Mrs Baiden-Amissah recalled the vital role the President's

Special Initiative on Distance Education was playing in the

country's educational development and advised teachers to take

advantage of the programme. She said that the school would soon be given a bus and

provision had been made in this year's budget for the

completion of a hostel for the school.

Mrs Baiden-Amissah, said, some of the projects for the school

had been awarded on contract, while a new science block would

be built next year. She said the government in partnership with the private

sector had initiated a programme to offer apprenticeship

training in the areas of technical and vocational skills to enable

those who complete Junior and Senior High schools to be

self-reliant. The government would pay the full cost of the first year of

the apprenticeship training for the beneficiaries. Mr. Emmanuel Kwesi Tsibu, Headmaster, said some of the

needs of the school include classroom blocks and staff

bungalows since teachers commuted from Agona Swedru, a

distance of 30 kilometers daily to attend classes. He commended the chiefs and opinion leaders of Mozano for

their assistance and appealed to the feuding factions in the

Mozano Disco Christo Church (MDCC) to bury their differences to

support the school and the community with prayers for the rapid

development of the area. Ms Joyce Aidoo, Gomoa West District Chief Executive,

appealed to parents and school authorities to help sensitize

students on the need to cultivate a high sense of discipline as

well as the dangers of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mr Chris Dowuona-Hammond, Cape Coast Municipal Director

of Education, called for cooperation and mutual understanding

between the staff, parents and students for the realization of

the school's objectives. Prizes were given to deserving students, teachers and workers

of the school with Ms Alberta Bruce emerging as the promising

teacher while Mr Moses Baidoo received the over all best

teacher award.