Delays of feeding grants affecting teaching and learning at Sandema training institute

The Perennial delays by the central government to release feeding grants and subvention for the Sandema Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institute is affecting the operations of the institute. 

Currently, in its seventh term, the school is without feeding grants and subvention. 

This has led to huge indebtedness and subsequent attacks, harassment and insults from suppliers and occasional students’ unrest. 

The Sandema Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institute was established in 1995 and one of the NYA training schools nationwide. 

Programs offered in the institute include Fashion and Design, Home Economics, Electrical Installation, Building and Construction, carpentry and Joinery, General Agriculture, Mathematics, English and Entrepreneurship.  

Since its inception, about one thousand five hundred and Seventy-Five students constituting one thousand and fifty males and five hundred and twenty-five females have been trained to augment Ghana’s middle-level manpower artisanal workforce. 

However, the aspiration of the institute to continue complementing the country’s artisanal workforce is heavily challenged due to several reasons. 

Existing structures are dilapidated, some of them posing danger to the lives of students and teaching staff. 

Evidence of the dilapidated state of the boys’ dormitories was the use of building blocks to hold the rusty roofing sheets. 

Meanwhile, cracks were visible on some walls of the dormitories.  

Windows of some dormitories had no mosquito nets whilst classrooms and dormitories are characterised by overcrowding due to inadequate infrastructure and posing health challenges to the students.
 
According to the Principal of the institute, Edmund De-Graft Sam, topmost among the various challenges of the school is the constant delays in the release of feeding grants. 

That notwithstanding Mr. Edmund De-Graft Sam expressed the need for the construction of administration, dormitories for students, dining and assembly hall, two six classroom blocks, principal’s bungalow, twelve semi-detached staff bungalows, a borehole and a state of the art workshop complex for all departments. 

Responding to the numerous challenges facing the institute, after a familiarisation tour, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Authority, Emmanuel Asigri assured the authorities of the school that plans are far advance to issue cheques for the settlement of the arrears. 

He also announced that benches will be provided to the workshop as a first step towards tackling the numerous challenges confronting the institute. 

Mr. Emmanuel Asigiri entreated the principal of the school to make available a priority list of the numerous challenges. 

He encouraged workers to call on him whenever the need arises because he operates an open door policy.

GBC