By Seraphine Nyuiemedi
The Executive Chairman of First Sky Group, Eric Sedinam Kutortse has urged political parties to desist from politicizing educational policies as that could impede the quality of education in the country.
He said the focus should rather be on the implementation of a national policy which will be strictly adhered to no matter the political party in power. Mr Kutortse was speaking at the 70th Anniversary of the Kpando Secondary school (KPANSEC) in the Kpando Municipality of the Volta Region.
Kpando Senior High School,(KPANSEC) started as a community day school on January 26, 1953 with just nine students and two teachers. From the initial nine students, the school currently boasts of three thousand 498 students, comprising one thousand 581 boys and one thousand 917. It has a staff strength of 235, which comprises 147 teaching and 88 non-teaching.
The headmaster of the school, Charles Evans Apreku said although the school has made significant gains in the areas of academic, sports, Agriculture, among others, more needs to be done to propel the school to a higher height.
He said the school is in urgent need of an eighteen unit classroom block to accommodate the increasing student population. He said the current headmaster’s residential accomodation, vehicle, dormitories, assembly hall, ICT laboratory, place of convenience and furniture inadequacy do not befit the status of the school.
Mr. Apreku bemoaned the infrastructure deficit which has resulted in some students sleeping on the floor. He has therefore appealed to the government and all stakeholders to come to the aid of the school.
“Due to inadequate number of desks in the school, about two or three students sit in a mono desk in some classes during lessons. This makes academic work a herculean task. In our dormitories too, our students sleep on the floor. This exposes them to high risk of sicknesses,” He said.
The Executive Chairman of First Sky Group, Eric Sedinam Kutortse, lauded the government for the STEM project and pledged his commitment to partner with government to ensure that Kpando Secondary school benefits from the policy.
“Basing our educational policies on party manifestoes and campaign promises will impede the quality of education we all yearn for. Our focus should rather be on a national policy on education that no matter the political party in power, the national policy would be strictly adhered to” he said.
Mr. Kutortse launched an infrastructure fund and donated a sum of one million cedis as a seed money towards the school’s infrastructure project ahead of its 75th diamond anniversary celebration.
The 70th Anniversary of the Kpando Secondary school was themed: Quality Education, a collective Responsibility”.