First-year students who were posted to the Drobonso Community Day Senior High School at Sekyere Afram Plains in the Ashanti Region had to be turned away because the school is not in operation.
The school, which is the first and the only Senior High School in the [ads1]District, is part of the Community Day schools constructed under the erstwhile John Mahama administration.
Students from the Greater Accra and Western Regions who were posted to the school as first years, had to go back as contractors were seen at the project site working to ensure its completion.
Officials at the District Education Directorate said they had taken details of the stranded students which will be forwarded to the regional office for them to be reposted.
Speaking to Citi News, Mark Adatekey, the Deputy Director Education of the Sekyere Afram Plains District, noted that by the time they were submitting names of schools, the facility was “by the lay man’s estimation about 80 percent complete” so they thought it would be ready by the start of the 2017/18 academic year.
The Directorate did not want a situation where the school was completed, but would sits idle for a year, till the 2018/19 academic year, according to Mark Adatekey.
He said his outfit even called the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) office and they were given the go-ahead to submit the school’s name.
“…But unfortunately, for so many months, since January [2017], the contractor has not been at site and that delayed the completion of the facility. Meanwhile, we had already submitted the name,” he said.
“Our District Chief executive called the secretariat to inform them that the facility was not ready so they should not send students to it. I don’t know whether they could not get the message well or not; before we realized, just last week, some students were arriving in the district…”
The Free SHS which is benefiting over 400,000 first years, is taking a toll on facilities in most Senior High Schools.
