TMA to Wall All Public Schools in Tema

The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tema, Felix Mensah Nii Annan-La, says he would promote an agenda of infrastructural development within the Metropolis as part of restoring Tema to its past glory.

Mr. Felix Mensah Nii Annan-La says the TMA under his stewardship would pursue a sustained development on all facets of infrastructure in the Metropolis.

He said this during a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a fence wall for the Community Seven Number One Basic School as well as six other public schools in the Metropolis.

He said, “What we require as an Assembly is your support and assurance that as residents, teachers and parents, we shall uphold our civic responsibilities at all times and also support the Tema Restoration Agenda.

Pledging the construction of a twelve storey classroom block for the school in addition to the walls, the MCE assured that TMA would continue to make good use of revenue realized from rate payers in Tema.

He observed that as a result of the implementation of policies such as the School Feeding Programme, enrollment in basic schools had increased, and facilities overstretched “therefore there is the pressing need for the Assembly to modernize, expand and in some instances, completely overhaul the existing facilities to accommodate our children.”

Mr. Annan-La said, as part of the Tema Restoration Agenda, the TMA, is committed to providing access to quality education for every child in the Metropolis, adding that “our commitment hinges on the fact that a nation can only progress when its people are educated and have skills to support themselves.”

The Tema Metropolitan Director of Education, Mrs. Margaret Nsiah Asamoah, said the situation in most of the public schools within the Metropolis poses  a threat to students and teachers, because the schools had become dumping sites for refuse with people regularly encroaching their lands.

She observed that, teachers and students would feel safe to teach and learn respectively, and therefore urged the community members to support the TMA by taking care of the school facilities.

The Headmistress of the Community Seven Number One Basic School, Madam Gloria Agbeshie, said the school is in the middle of the community, and without walls, so the children easily go out of the school into the community.

She said, “Even in the evening, smokers settle here and the most annoying thing is when they finish smoking they would smear the place with toilet, making the children to clean up fecal matter most of the time before they start learning.”

Madam Agbeshie added that, “Others use the school as a walkway, with people walking through to their destinations and then thieves and mentally-ill people run through the facilities at anytime, so the construction of the wall is really a dream come through.”

The Tema Metropolitan Engineer, Maxwell Adu-Boateng, said the TMA had a plan to wall 36 public schools in the Tema Metropolis.

He said the first phase of the project which would be completed in three months, would see the walling of Adjetey Ansah Basic School, Manheam, Tema Newtown, Community Seven Number One Basic School, Kotobabi Basic School, Batsona, and Lashibi School Complex, Lashibi, among others.

Source: GNA