It brings to 21, the number of E-Blocks operationalised by the government, out of the 23 earmarked for completion under the current administration.

The blocks, four of which are ready, with one almost complete, are located at Lashibi in the Greater Accra Region, Aflao in the Volta Region, which is 93 per cent complete, Tambligu in the Upper East Region, Apesua in the Eastern Region and Adabokrom in the Western North Region.

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, made this known in Accra Sunday, January 30, when he took his turn at the Ministers’ Briefing, a forum created by the Ministry of Information for the government to update citizens on its work.

The minister said the completion of the blocks would help deliver more classrooms to support the free SHS policy.

Not abandoned

Dr Adutwum said since many of the E-Blocks were not complete and had no dedicated budgets before they were started, the government made provision to tackle a number of them.

He chided those who held the view that the government had abandoned the E-Blocks, saying: “We want an educational system that will stand the test of time.”

He said at Dome Kwabenya in Accra, for instance, the E-Block in the area was in use, with students packed in the classrooms.

He said the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) had stepped in to provide an additional six-unit classroom block there, which was equally filled with students.

The minister recalled that the E-Block at Drobonso in the Bono East Region was facing challenges, including the lack of electricity, saying those challenges must be addressed, and that was why the government was painstakingly looking at the whole system in order to ensure that the right infrastructure was put in place.

He said it was not in the interest of Ghanaians for one government to execute a project for another to abandon.

That was because the resources used to execute such projects were from taxpayers’ money.

STEM Education

Dr Adutwum also said 10 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) SHSs were being constructed in eight regions.

The sites included Abomosu in Eastern, Kpasenkpe in North East, Awaso in Western North, Koase in Bono and Akrodie in Ahafo.

The rest are Diaso in Central, Weija in Greater Accra, as well as Bosomtwe Girls’, Kwadaso, and Dabaa, both in Ashanti.

Aside from the Accra STEM Academy, the government was also constructing ten 21st century Model Schools, grouped into lower and upper secondary schools, which would be strong on STEM programmes, he said.

He said the 21st century schools would have common features such as interactive classrooms, modern science laboratories, furnished with modern furniture and equipment, basic schools from kindergarten to SHS, administrative areas, ancillary facilities, multi-purpose auditoriums, with dining hall and kitchen, as well as external works with elaborate landscaping.

Dr Adutwum said as part of the ministry’s priority for 2022 and beyond, it would construct 12 state-of-the-art Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutes.

“These projects are among others earmarked by the Ministry of Education as projects prioritised to be undertaken this year and beyond as part of efforts to transform the educational sector to become a major propeller of Ghana's economic transformation agenda,” he said.

Other projects prioritised, he said, included the modernisation of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI).

Semester, trimester calendar

Touching on the semester and the trimester school calendar at the primary and the junior high school (JHS) levels, Dr Adutwum said he took the decision to reverse the semester academic calendar for both levels to the trimester system after broad consultations with teacher unions and other stakeholders in the educational sector.

He, however, observed that the decision was not about the policy but the educational schedule, and that whether the schools were running a semester or a trimester calendar, it was only for convenience sake and really did not have any impact on the outcomes.

“I did it because it was the right thing to do. Last year, before I became the minister, JHS had a semester schedule and parents were complaining," he noted.

Textbooks

On the distribution of textbooks, the Minister of Education said efforts were being made to ensure that core textbooks hit the classrooms as fast as possible to ensure full implementation of the curriculum for both primary and JHS.

Dr Adutwum further said learning materials for teachers were currently being distributed to all schools to ensure that schools had one year content with them before their textbooks were distributed to them.