Cape Coast demands 30% placement… in well endowed SHS in the Metropolis

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast and Deputy Attorney General, and also Minister of Justice - Mr. Ebo Barton Oduro, has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to as a matter of urgency implement the 30% placement allocation to Senior High Schools for the 2009 academic year.

According to him, lack of implementation of the policy, as a result of the introduction of the computer selection system, was making it difficult for pupils in Cape Coast and for that matter those in the Central Region to get access to the high class schools in the Cape Coast Metropolis.

The issue of Cape Coasters not getting enrolment into schools in the region, such as Adisadel College, St. Augustine's College, Holy Child School, Mfantsipim School Wesley Girls, Ghana National College and Aggrey Memorial Zion Secondary among others, has become a thorny issue with parents calling for the implementation of the 30% allocation to pupils in the schools' catchment area.

Hon. Barton Oduro observed that GES had not cancelled the 30% allocation to pupils in the local schools catchment area, but rather those at the computer selection section had decided to do their own thing, thereby ignoring the existence of that policy.

The MP made the call when he met with a team of experts, who served as advisers to him, to discuss issues ranging from education, construction of Kotokuraba Market, Pedu Interchange, dredging of Fosu Lagoon, relocation of artisans at Siwdu, to Mpeasem, as well as re-construction of the collapsed Baakano and Ankaful bridges.

Mr. Oduro, who vowed to ensure the implementation of the policy during the 2008 election campaign, advised critics of the policy to stop making irrelevant arguments to the effect that pupils in Cape Coast and its environs did not perform well in the BECE, resulting in their inability to be absorbed into the schools in the region.

At the meeting, it came up that no Cape Coast pupil gained admission to high class schools such as Mfantsipim and Wesley Girls High for the 2007/2008 academic year. Mr. Obotan Larbi, Metropolitan Education Director and a member of the think-tank group confirmed the anomaly.

Members of the team, which consisted of businessmen, medical doctors, hoteliers, agriculturalists, engineers, media practitioners, traditional rulers, assembly members, as well as environmentalists, were irritated by the startling revelations, with some calling for radical measures to restore the policy.

Touching on the construction of the Kotokuraba Market, the MP said he had come across a document which indicated that compensation had been paid to those residing around the market, and that very soon it would be awarded on contract, adding that the Siwdu Artisans would be relocated to Mpeasem, to pave way for the dredging of the Fosu Lagoon.

Again, the MP said frantic efforts were being made to secure land for the establishment of citrus processing factory in the Metropolis, as land demarcated for industrial hub had been encroached upon by some people, claiming that a Memorandum of Understanding had been signed by government and a Chinese government to construct the Pedu-Abura Interchange.

He also touched on the Cape Coast Stadium, which is under construction, and explained that the project had not been abandoned as is being peddled around, but new additions were being made as directed by President John Evans Atta Mills to increase the 15,000 seating capacity to 25, 000 - which he noted had caused the delay of work.

Mr. Oduro said the Metropolitan Director of Agriculture has been tasked to come out with a safe landing beach for the fishermen in Cape Coast, so as to ensure the construction of a fishing landing site. He was happy that the problem of premix fuel supply had subsided and thanked the sector Minister for a good job done.

The Cape Coast Metropolitan Agriculture Director, Mrs. Felicia Ansah, said the fishermen had complained that those engaged in pair trawling activities had adopted new antics, as they ply their trade on Tuesdays, when local fishermen do not go on their fishing expeditions.