The VALCO Trust Fund has launched an ambitious project to remove schools living under trees in the country.
The Fund, with a projected budget of Ghc3.5 billion, seeks to construct, within a period of five years, some 5,403 schools which currently operate under trees and which are in dilapidated or makeshift structures.
Executive Director of VALCO Trust Fund Kelvin Yeboah, in a press conference in Accra, announced that the Fund will, by June 4, this year, cut the sod for the start of the project at Karaga in Northern Region, and which will witness the initial construction of some eighteen schools.
According to Mr. Kelvin Yeboah, the initial eighteen structures, which are scheduled to be completed in three years, have been selected from all the regions and it is estimated to cost a whopping Ghc6 million.
Mr. Yeboah has also disclosed that the structures will include classroom blocks for KGs, primary and junior high schools with ancillary facilities like head-teacher’s offices, staff common rooms, toilet facilities, libraries, ICT laboratories and boreholes and pieces of furniture to be supplied.
He revealed that the Ministry of Energy has pledged to extend electricity to the schools in order to boost the delivery of education services.
Director-General of Ghana Education Service Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa has expressed his gratitude to the Fund for the gesture and pledged the Service’s support to the project.
Meanwhile, a website, www.schoolsundertrees.com, has been launched for easy access to the schools via digital addresses, when the project is completed.
Credit:
Public Relations Unit, GES
Accra
