Ensure regular maintenance of facilities - Veep

Page 14 (lead) November 17/2008

Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Kumasi

THE Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has called on educational institutions that benefit from projects funded from the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to ensure their regular and prompt maintenance.
“That way, future funds can be invested in the provision of additional infrastructure and for expansion rather than rehabilitation of the same stock of facilities,” he advised.
Alhaji Mahama made the call when he joined the students and school authorities of the Yaa Asantewaa Senior High School to celebrate the school’s 11th Speech and Prize-giving Day in Kumasi at the weekend.
The highly attended ceremony also provided the Vice President the opportunity to inaugurate some GETFund-funded projects such as a dormitory block and places of convenience.
Established in 1960 and named after one of the bravest female war veterans in the country’s history, Yaa Asantewaa, the purely girls school now has a student population of 1,520.
Soon on his arrival, Alhaji Mahama was made to inspect a guard of honour mounted by the smart-looking school cadet corps, who also entertained the large crowd to some spectacular drills.
The Vice President did not leave the students out of the advice he gave on the maintenance of school facilities, for he admonished the students to avoid antisocial attitudes that undermined academic work and also cause damage to school facilities.
“Spend your precious time attending classes promptly and regularly, cultivating the habit of reading and learning to be punctual and respectful,” he advised.
Alhaji Mahama reminded the students of the upcoming general election, saying “some of you are of age and will be voting in the elections on December 7, 2008”.
“The first is to ensure that you do not allow yourselves to be used as instruments of violence and disruption in the run-up to the elections,” he said, adding that “Secondly, you have a moral obligation to preserve your future by advising your less privileged friends and relatives to appreciate the best choices”.
Alhaji Mahama said the country’s desire to become a modernised middle income society with a per capita income of at least a $1,000 by the year 2015 and rising thereafter depended on the knowledge foundation the educational system could provide.
The Vice President also challenged the leadership of schools to enhance the training of their girl students by sensitising them to a positive mindset about the larger dimension of social relations and the fast moving global social economy.
“In particular, no Ghanaian girl should be dragged down or her ambitions limited by outmoded cultural practices and traditional beliefs; but we all are aware that attitudinal change demands consensus and sustained advocacy,” he said.
The Vice President commended the school authorities and the students for the laurels chalked up in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) over the years.
Mrs Elizabeth Malik-Jabir, the headmistress of the school, said the school had been described as one located in a lightning zone and called for funds to enable the authorities pay for a device meant to prevent the effect of lightning when it struck, in order to avoid any casualties.
She also appealed for funds for the construction of staff bungalows to enable the teaching staff to remain on campus.
Dramatic scenes characterised the arrival of the Senior Prefect of the school, Ms Vicentia Appiah-Kwarteng, when she was about to deliver her address.
While the Master of Ceremony was pushing for her to quicken up since the programme had already delayed, about 43 other prefects, including some cadet corps members, defied the odds and instead, majestically walked ahead of the senior prefect by way of leading her to the dais amidst laughter.
In her report, Ms Appiah-Kwarteng, who discharged her duties without being perturbed by the negative comments against her from sections of the crowd, painted a positive picture of the school, particularly the areas of academic, sports and social events.
She expressed the hope that the school library, which was partly damaged by a recent lightning that hit the school, would be reconstructed and expanded to be able to accommodate the large number of students who patronised it.