Captain George Nfodjoh (rtd), Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho-Central has observed the MPs Common Fund, meant to support projects in the constituencies, is not a preserve of public institutions.

He said there are private institutions working in the public interest that deserve to be supported with these grants.

Captain Nfodjoh was speaking at a durbar to climax the fifth Anniversary of the Wallahs Academy, a private Senior High School (SHS) located in Ho on the theme: “Five Years of Quality Education: Successes, Challenges and the Way Forward.”

He said students in private schools with the requisite needs and qualifications also deserve support from the funds.

Wallahs Academy started as a remedial school five years ago in hired classrooms with nine students and seven teachers but had grown into a regular SHS with 335 students, 27 teachers and 19 non-teaching staff.

Captain Nfodjoh said many private institutions, such as Wallahs Academy, are venturing into molding the future of the youth and needs support.

He pledged to give the Academy 50 dual desks, besides the computers and sports equipment he had presented to the school.

Mr Maxwell Worlanyo Affram, Rector of the Academy, said growth, which had been steady but difficult, was worth the effort, as the school had been able to absorb many young people, who were turned away from public schools, for lack of space.

He said in the coming years the school would keep to its motto of “Producing excellent students, leading to a higher caliber of human resource base for the country,” by offering special innovative programmes to open opportunities to many people.

Mr Affram said the school, which now offers three programmes, general and visual arts, business and home economics, got 100 per cent pass at its first two presentations for the West African School Certificate Examinations.

He said the Academy is performing well in the areas of sports, culture and discipline and that, students and teachers who compromised the disciplinary code of the school were promptly punished.

Mr Affram said the school management had dismissed 10 students, withdrew 12 from the boarding system for indiscipline, and also laid off four teachers “for various degrees of moral standards that can best be described as unwholesome”.

He said the Academy is expanding, building dormitories, and additional classroom blocks and housekeepers’ bungalows.

Mr Affram said the school however suffers frequent water shortages because of its location on high grounds and needs support to tackle the problem and support to equip its libraries and science laboratories.

Mr Emmanuel Keteku, Municipal Director of Education, who presided over the function, in a comment on the theme, said quality education should be a watchword, as “low education is tantamount to no education”.

Deserving students and teachers were awarded while the old students association presented a table top refrigerator to the school to be used at the Staff Common Room.