The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Mr. Kwadwo Baah Wiredu has disclosed that the government was taking steps to trace and prosecute all building and road contractors who had abandoned projects and ran away with billions of cedis.

The Minister said this when he inspected a two-storey dormitory block estimated at ? 900 million and an home economics block estimated at ?80 million which had been abandoned at the Acherensua Secondary School (ACHISCO) in the Asutifi District, Brong Ahafo Region. The contract, according to the Minister, was awarded to a Koforidua - based contractor whose name was given as Mr. Danyor, in 1999.

Mr. Baah Wiredu identified the problem when he visited the district to cut the sod for the commencement of some educational projects. The Chronicle?s learnt that over 20% of the first year students slept on the floor in both the boys and girls? dormitories. The school with a population of over 800 students has only one dormitory each for both sexes. The Education minister, who promised government?s full support for development projects in the school to make studies conducive for the students, cut the sod for work to begin on a three - classroom block being funded by the Asutifi District Assembly.

At the OLA Girls Secondary School at Kenyasi, Mr. Baah-Wiredu inaugurated a two-storey Home Economics and a Library block funded by the Catholic Church. He inspected also a ?1.6 billion uncompleted two-storey dormitory from the GETfund and cut the sod for the start of a ?500 - million teachers? quarters. The teachers? quarters is being built by the Assembly in recognition of the school?s performance in the SSSCE. The school was ranked 2nd in the Brong Ahafo and 25th in the country in last year?s SSSCE rankings released by the GES.

Other projects the minister commissioned in the Asutifi district were; a 6-unit classroom block at Acherensua and a 3-unit classroom block at Konkontreso. The Minister announced that from next academic year, learning and teaching aides would be administered to schools by the regional and district education directorates and said all the district assemblies had been directed to construct four new schools in their localities by the end of this year.