President Mahama cuts sod for first Batch of 50 community SHS

President John Mahama will perform a sod-cutting ceremony at Nyanoa, near Adeiso in the Upper West Akyem District in the Eastern Region, today for work to begin on the first batch of 50 new community day senior high schools (SHSs).

In his State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Tuesday, February 25, 2014, the President had promised to cut the sod for the construction of the first 50 of the proposed 200 new community day SHSs to be built in different parts of the country.

The new schools are intended to help the government fulfill its objective of expanding and improving access to secondary education in the country.

President Mahama explained that "existing secondary schools have the capacity to absorb only 60 per cent of the students who qualify from junior high school”.

“Because of the high demand for secondary education, existing schools have been compelled to admit much higher than they were designed to accommodate. This has led to circumstances in which there are some schools with as many as 3,000 students, twice the prescribed average of 1,500," he had said.

The government has secured funding for the new schools and each project is expected to take 18 months to complete.

 A presidential committee on the projects has already presented its report on details of cost, design and beneficiary communities to the President.

The five-member committee comprises Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, Mr Cletus Apuul Avoka, Mr Paul Victor Obeng and Dr Stephen Ayidiya.