Some of the stalled projects
The authorities of St Mary?s Seminary Senior High School at Lolobi in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region are facing challenges in relation to the accommodation of its staff and students, as work on the GETFUND projects, which is supposed to address the current infrastructure challenges of the school, has been abandoned for over a year.
The projects, which began in 2012, were scheduled to be completed within 10 months, but till date, not a single project is near completion, with some still at a foundation level.
The St Mary?s Seminary SHS which currently has students population of 810 and teaching staff of 47 and 41 non-teaching staff, had been facing infrastructure challenges over the years.
The situation had compelled authorities to convert part of the dining hall and a four unit classroom block into classrooms and dormitories respectively to accommodate the increasing students? population.
As a result of the woeful inadequate accommodation, majority of the tutors have to commute daily from Hohoe to Lolobi, a situation which the Parent-Teacher Association of the school had tried solving by building four staff bungalows over the past seven years.
Poor access roads to the school and on the campus as well as access to potable water are also major challenges facing the school.
The students expend a major part of their study hours, walking from their school daily to fetch water from the River Dayi.
At a durbar recently held to climax the school?s Golden Jubilee celebration at Lolobi-Kumasi, the Headmaster, Rev Fr Pascal Afesi, lamented the slow pace of the GETFund projects and appealed to government to ensure the speedy completion of the projects to ease the infrastructure plight of the school.
Despite the challenges, the school continues to excel in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and record a 100 percent pass every year, an achievement which is attributed to the school?s high academic and moral discipline.
The school which was established by Catholic Missionaries in 1961 as a Junior Seminary for the formation of indigenous priests had also trained laymen since its inception.
Apart from the numerous Catholic priests including three bishops that the school had produced, it had also trained high calibre of personnel who are serving in various sectors of the economy, including education, security, civil society, judiciary, among others.
Alex Kyeremeh, a deputy Minister of Education in-charge of Pre-tertiary, lauded the Catholic Church for its continuous collaboration with government in quality education delivery.
?Quality education is not only the responsibility of government, but all stakeholders,? he said and reiterated government?s commitment towards the completion of all ongoing projects in the school to improve teaching and learning.
The Volta Regional Minister, Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, expressed worry about the fallen disciplinary standards in schools which was negatively affecting quality education. He, therefore, asked authorities to inculcate sound moral discipline in the lads to ensure quality education.
The Catholic Bishop of Ho Diocese, Most Rev Francis Kofi Lodonu, charged government to always deliver on its part of the ?state church collaboration? in education while the church continuous to shape the character of students through moral education to promote a disciplined society.
From Fred Duodu And Lambert Atsivor, Lolobi
