Bolgatanga, May 1, GNA- Schools that were mostly affected by floods that hit the Upper West, Upper East, and Northern Regions (the three Northern regions) last year, are to be reconstructed by the government. The initiative, which would be funded by the World Bank under the Northern Flood School Project, is expected to be completed by the next academic year.

This came to light at a meeting organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, at on Wednesday at Bolgatanga, to brief stakeholders including municipal, district chief executives, co-coordinating directors and engineers and district education directors drawn from the Upper East and Upper West Regions on the mode of execution of the project.

In all, 13 affected schools in the three Northern Regions are expected to benefit from the package out of which five are from the Upper East Region and one from Upper West Region. The beneficiary districts in the Upper East Region are the Bawku Municipal, Kassena-Nankana District, Bongo District, Builsa District, Talensi-Nabdam and the Jirapa Lambusi District in the Upper West Region.

Mr Alhassan Samari, Upper East Regional Minister, welcoming the people, urged the assemblies and other stakeholders to take the project seriously to enable government achieve its aim of availing every child of school going-age the opportunity to have education.

He explained that the reconstruction of the damaged schools by government was a clear indication of its commitment to education. Mr Samari warned that he would not hesitate to sanction any official whose action would be a threat to the successful implementation of the project.

He urged chief executives of the assemblies to initiate encourage tree planting and other friendly environmental practices in their various areas.