Pusiga (U/E), March 16, GNA - Asaab Enterprise, a local construction company, has abandoned a six-unit classroom block at the Gbewaa Training College at Pusiga since October 2007.

Efforts by the college to get the consultant to the project, "Associated Beaver Consult," to trace the contractor have proved futile. The Principal, Pastor Luke Abugri, said this at the maiden matriculation of the college on Saturday. He said in addition to the students not having access to the classroom block, furniture made for the classrooms could not be used. He appealed to the Regional Coordinating Council, the Municipal Assembly and the Directorate of Education to help get the contractor back to site to complete the project.

Pastor Abugri said the college, since its inception in 1953, had produced a lot of important people and mentioned some of them as Naa Professor Nabila, Chief of Wulugu and the President of National House of Chiefs, Dr Kwabena Adjei, National Chairman of NDC, Dr Alhassan Siedu, the Rector of Tamale Polytechnic and Madam Charlotte Azurago who won the National Best Teacher Award in 2004.

He said the college could boast of quality teaching staff that is hard working and committed to duty, adding that the college had never experienced any students' unrest. Pastor Abugri said the College had formed Youth Ambassador for Peace Club that was working to link up with the youth in the Municipality to promote peace in Bawku.

He said the college started running a three-year Diploma course in Basic Education from 2004 and said the first batch passed out in 2007. It also runs Untrained Teacher Diploma in Basic Education that also started in 2005 and the first batch would complete in August. The college gained accreditation to run the diploma programme in July 2008 that gave it a right to operate as a tertiary institution. He suggested the introduction of French taking into cognisance the area's proximity to Burkina Faso and Togo, both Francophone countries. Pastor Abugri mentioned some of the challenges facing the college as the need to expand the college administration, an hssembly hall and the renovation of staff bungalows.

Mr. Mark Woyongo, the Upper East Regional Minister, said in a speech on his behalf that the Regional Coordinating Council would support the college and appealed to the staff and students to play a major role to ensure peace in the area.

The Bawku Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr. Yakubu Alhassan Abubakari, expressed concern about the rippling effects of the conflict in Bawku and said it had resulted in the Municipality's poor performances in the Basic Certificate Examination (BCECE) and the West Africa Senior Certificate Examination (WASCE).

He said the municipality continued to suffer socially, economically and politically and said a lot of families have crumbled whilst criminals capitalized on the situation to vandalize and steal. "Indeed, indiscipline has become institutionalized with educational standards falling and service delivery of all sorts in jeopardy." Mr Abubakari said developmentl projects had often become stagnant or never got started because funds had been diverted to quench violence at the expense of development. 16 March 09