The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Plan Ghana on Friday handed over a renovated Junior High School (JHS) to the Gomoa East District Directorate of Education at Gomoa Mpota in the Central Region.
The renovation, which falls under the Transition and Persistent (TAP) project being carried out through the collaboration of the two institutions, covers an amount of US$11.2 million for a three-year programme, which aims at rehabilitating 156 JHSs in 13 districts in four regions.
The amount also covers the provision of furniture, water, sanitation and hand washing facilities in the 13 districts of all four regions.
Other regions benefiting apart from the Central Region are the Greater Accra, Eastern and the Brong Ahafo.
The handing over ceremony at the Gomoa East marked the beginning of series of handing over programmes for similar facilities, which would continue in some parts of the four regions, Ms Cheryl Anderson, USAID Ghana Mission Director said.
She said the Agency was committed to helping to improve education management and education in general as part of Ghana’s development strategy, adding that Ghana had made great progress by increasing access to education and building school enrollment.
Ms Cheryl Anderson said the renovation project supported Ghana's commitment to increase JHS enrollment and graduation rates and that the USAID also funded training for teachers to improve teaching, classroom management and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) skills, which would help headteachers improve their management skills and better design and implement school performance plans.
Ms Anderson said 96 per cent of Ghanaian children enrolled in the primary school, put Ghana at the forefront of the 'education for all movement' which was a tremendous achievement, adding "Every educated child is a golden opportunity for Ghana's future."
She said under the programme, USAID was supporting the improvement of JHS in 156 communities across the four regions and the goal was to increase the chances for children to transit from the Primary to JHS successfully.
Mr Prem Shukla, Country Director of Plan Ghana, said children had the right to dignified place to pursue their education and access to sanitation facilities to attend to nature’s call.
He said girls by their psychological make up needed to have suitable sanitary facilities to help them maintain personal hygiene.
Mr Shukla said during the implementation period, improved, decent and adequate space had been provided for teaching and learning for more than 18,000 girls and boys.
He said to promote access and retention in the schools, 800 needy students had been supported with some kind of scholarship awards in the past two years, while over 1,000 girls had benefitted from the Girls Camp activities aimed at exposing girls to better opportunities and prospects in life.
Mr Shukla said last year the Mpota D/A School won the USAID JHS Project Excellence School award for the outstanding participation of the community in the management of the school, the implementation of the school improvement plan, daily teacher attendance and support for students clubs.
Mrs Adzo Obodai, Gomoa East District Director of Education, said the support was welcomed as it helped improve teaching and learning in the District.
Mr Isaac Kingsley Ahunu-Armah, District Chief Executive, thanked USAID and Plan Ghana for the gesture and called on other stakeholders to support the country's education sector with infrastructure.