Three years ago, the four-year senior high school (SHS) programme was introduced and this year third-year students in SHS will go to the fourth year, making it necessary for additional classrooms and dormitories to accommodate them.
What makes the situation dire is the fact that more than 140,000 junior high school students who are due for admission to SHS this September may not get admission if the necessary infrastructure is not provided.
Since the introduction of the four-year SHS programme, not much has been done in terms of putting up infrastructural facilities such as classrooms, dormitories, dining halls, science laboratories, etc.
Across the entire country, heads of SHSs are complaining about the lack of infrastructure to accommodate fresh students next academic year.
Some SHSs in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region have warned that they will not be able to admit fresh students in September if the necessary infrastructure is not put in place.
From Koforidua in the Eastern Region, we hear that most of the SHSs are not prepared to admit new students in September due to lack of classrooms and dormitories.
The situation is the same in most parts of the country and it looks as if there is going to be disruption in some of the schools next academic year.
In the face of all this, we take consolation from the fact that the government has tasked groups of consultants who are working feverishly on how to address the problem of additional classrooms and dormitories to accommodate fresh students.
We would want to urge the consultants to fast-track the issue so that they can come up with options for the government to take a firm decision to enable those JHS students who will enter SHS this year to begin their academic work without any problems.
We should not forget that most parents are at the moment in a quandary as to whether their children will get admission to the SHS and, if they do, whether there will be dormitories and classrooms for them to pursue their academic work.
The government, we believe, will take this issue seriously and implement every recommendation that the group of consultants will come up with.
The necessary funds should be provided to build new classrooms and dormitories for the schools.
We believe that some schools have already initiated programmes to build more classrooms and dormitories.
If that is the case, then those schools should be helped to complete their projects, while those schools which are not in a position to start the construction of additional classrooms and dormitories should be assisted to do so as soon as practicable, bearing in mind that we have just six months for the new academic year to begin
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