The senior high schools are New Juaben SHS, Ghana SHS (GHANASS), Koforidua Secondary Technical School (SECTECH) and Ofori Panin SHS (OPASS).

The challenges they enumerated include limited number of classrooms, small assembly halls, inadequate dormitories for both boys and girls, inadequate classroom furniture, inadequate benches and tables in dining halls, inadequate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and science resource centres.

Others are the lack of decent science laboratories for practical work, limited spaces in dining halls, inappropriate library facilities, dilapidated staff bungalows, lack of security cameras and poor playing fields, as well as the lack of buses to convey students for excursions and other school activities.

These challenges came to light when the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education visited the educational institutions last Friday.

The delegation, led by the committee's chairman, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akatsi North, visited to ascertain the difficulties facing the educational institutions and to see how best to address such challenges.

At the New Juaben Senior High School, the Headmistress, Georgina Oti Frimpong, said the school, which started as a private commercial college in 1953 but was taken over by the government in 1972, had several challenges.

Such challenges, she indicated, were inadequate dormitory facilities, limited classroom blocks, lack of modern assembly halls, inadequate staff accommodation, inadequate furniture for both teachers and students, laboratory, beds and the lack of a school bus.

Other challenges, Mrs Frimpong stated, were a weak fence wall and a limited number of security personnel, labourers and pantry hands.

Mrs Frimpong said despite the challenges, the school had, over the years, chalked a lot of successes in many fields, such as scoring 100 per cent passes in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Apart from that, she indicated that the school placed second in the Koforidua Zonal Debate in 2024 and also reached the quarter final in the science and maths quiz for three consecutive times (2016 -2018). She also mentioned other achievements in sports and drama competitions.

The headmistress, therefore, appealed to the committee members to see how best to address the challenges of the school, which currently has a student population of 3,371.

The Headmistress of Ghana Senior High School (GHANASS), Diana Mintah, told the delegation that the school structures were as old as the institution, which was established 82 years ago.

According to Mrs Mintah, most of the buildings were dilapidated, particularly the headmistress’ residence, which leaked anytime it rained heavily and needed re-roofing.
Staff bungalows, Mrs Mintah stated, were not enough, resulting in less than 20 per cent of the teachers staying on the school's compound, with the rest staying in town.

The headmistress said the situation had made it difficult to control the students in the dormitories.

The school's assembly hall, she indicated, was also not good and must be replaced with a spacious new one to accommodate the student population of 3,407.

The school, Mrs Mintah further pointed out, needed an astro turf and a standard playing field for sporting activities, a counselling and guidance centre and more non-teaching staff made up of drivers and labourers.

The Headmaster of the Koforidua Secondary Technical School (SECTECH), Ofori Antwi, and the Headmaster of Ofori Panin Senior High School (OPASS), Ernest Antwi Gyimah, also highlighted similar challenges facing their schools and appealed to the government to help address the challenges.

The committee members also visited and interacted with the management of the All Nations University (ANU) at Koforidua and the University College of Agriculture and Environmental Studies (UCAES) at Bunso in the Abuakwa South Municipality in the Eastern Region, where they were also briefed on ongoing projects, challenges and achievements of the tertiary educational institutions.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe, expressed satisfaction with work on the ongoing educational infrastructural facilities, as well as the abandoned ones at the various SHSs visited in the region.

He said the government was doing its best to provide and improve educational facilities in SHSs to end the double track system to ensure quality education in the country.

Mr Nortsu-Kotoe indicated that he was impressed with the work of the heads of the SHSs and their management and that they were not there to witch-hunt anybody or do politics with it.

"We are impressed with the work of the heads of SHS and their management in their respective institutions; we are not here to witch-hunt you for political reasons but to know what is exactly on the ground.

"We are visiting the schools because we want to have first-hand information on the challenges confronting the SHSs and they have not shied away from telling us the truth about what actually is happening.

"We appreciate their work so much and we have taken note of all the projects that were stalled or abandoned over the years, so we can make our recommendations to the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to quickly complete all the projects so that our students can have more rooms for accommodation, either in the classroom, dormitories or in assembly halls," Mr Nortsu-Kotoe stated.

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