MP for Saboba dissatisfied with pace of GETFund projects execution in his Constituency
The Member of Parliament for Saboba Constituency in the Northern Region, Hon Joseph Nikpe Bukari, has expressed dissatisfaction about the abandoned education infrastructure projects being funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GetFund) in the Constituency.
According to him, two Getfund schools projects in Burburini and Nankperik communities in the Saboba Constituency have stalled since the change of government in 2017, thereby affecting quality education in the area.
Mr. Bukari expressed disappointment when he dragged the Minister for education to parliament on Wednesday, February 9, 2022, over the abandoned GetFund projects in Burburini and Nankpeik communities.
The lawmaker wanted to know when construction works on the two projects would be resuming.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask the Minister for Education when construction works on the Burburini and Nankpeik classroom blocks that were abandoned since 2017 will resume?”, Hon Bukari asked.
In response, the Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum said the project at Burburini was awarded to Messrs Sibanshi Enterprise in 2011 by the Saboba District Assembly and funded by GETFund.
According to the sector minister, the 6-Unit Classroom project with Ancillary Facilities is at 90 percent complete but has been abandoned by the Contractor.
He told parliament, the Saboba District Assembly is, however, “taking steps to re-award the project for its completion subject to availability of funds.”
On the Nankpeik school project which is also a 6-unit classroom block, Dr. Adutwum said the project was awarded by the same District Assembly and supervised by A.E.S.L.
The project, he noted has been abandoned by the contractor and the District Assembly is taking steps to re-award for its completion subject to availability of funds.
But Hon Bukari told EXPRESSNEWSGHANA, he was dissatisfied with the Minister’s response on the ground that the delay in completing the projects for over six years is affecting Basic education in the area, saying there was thus the need for stakeholders, especially the contractors on those projects to complete them as parents have started withdrawing their wards from the communities to farther away schools.
He added that many of the school children in the Burburini and Nankperik communities whose parents could afford to send them to other schools due to transportation challenges risked losing education as the two projects in the communities remains abandoned.
Generally, the MP said the District has about 25,548 basic school children from Kindergarten (K-G), Primary to the Junior High School(JHS) level, but the non-availability of infrastructure was a major challenge to quality progress of education the District to urgently address the infrastructure, especially communities at the more deprived areas of the District to give them the best start in life.
In his considered view, early child education which is the foundation for inclusion in the lifelong journey has been totally neglected and investing and ensuring early universal access to education under the Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) should be given attention.
Hon Bukarinoted that most of the Basic education institutions have been neglected such that, even tables, chairs, benches and other material for the children to sit and write with are hardly provided, a situation, he added could affect a child foundation.
“Most of the schools in the District have no furniture, tables, chairs and other material to enable the children to have the comfort to learn are not available. In some of the schools, children lied on their bellies to write and how will they perform under such conditions.
“In fact, this has since affected and continue to affect the academic performance of the children and for that matter quality education in my Constituency, Hon Bukari bemoaned.
The Saboba MP blasted the current government for paying lip services to the education sector, pointing out that the good policies put out by the Mills-Mahama administration to remove schools under trees have been destroyed and urged the government to release funds to GetFund to complete education projects for basic schools in the country.
He also expressed the concern that the poorly resourced Ghana Education Services (GES) is affecting effective supervising and the teacher to pupil ratio also dropped due to many teachers rejecting posting to the District due to lack of poor infrastructure of the schools and non-availability of Teachers’ bungalows.
While asking the government to as a matter of fact extend the free education to Basic education in fulfillment of the constitutionally guaranteed FCUBE, the MP also appealed to parents and stakeholders to contribute to the education needs of the children.
“I think parents can also contribute by way of buying chairs or benches for their children so they can have the comfort to learn. How will you dress your child to school and he or she comes back home looking dirty/ so I will entreat parents to also help, it is the only best form of investment they can invest in their children,” Hon Bukari stated.
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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