The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) has called on the government to as a matter of urgency resolve accommodation and infrastructural challenges facing some Senior High Schools in the country ahead of the intake of fresh students later this month.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has placed 423,134 qualified students under the 2019 Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Speaking to Citi News, the President-elect of CHASS, Alhaji Yakub Ahmed Bin Abubakar said some schools face significant challenges.
He noted that in as much as they are aware that the form one students will be coming and are ready for their arrival, they will struggle to cater for them adequately due to unavailability of facilities.
“There are real challenges of infrastructure especially accommodation to accommodate them, both classrooms and dormitories. We are hoping that everybody will work according to the schedule so that as and when the people are coming, the facilities are ready for them.”
Since the free SHS policy was implemented in 2017, one of the main challenges has been a lack of accommodation and other facilities to cater for the huge number of students.
In as much as President Nana Akufo-Addo has assured Ghanaians that his government is working assiduously to address the many challenges that have bedevilled the implementation of its flagship free Senior High School education program, the problem of accommodation for the students still surfaces in the country.
Previous Citi News reports indicated that some schools have converted their staff common rooms and laboratories into dormitories and classrooms.
The headmaster of the Koforidua Technical Senior High School (Kotech) told Citi News the situation persists.
“Our dining hall was designed to accommodate only 300 students, but now it is being used by over 900 students. So we are trying to do an extension of the structure. Formally, the delay and go slow at the dining hall was affecting our contact hours, so we have designed a new strategy to curb that delay, so now lecturers close 10 minutes early so students can use the dinning. So I can say the problem is a bit okay now, but still we need a bigger dining hall.”
