BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
ACCORDING to the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development’s (MEHRD) 2017 Annual Report one of the strategies to increase access to education is the availability of quality infrastructure.
The report stresses that one of the key activities under MEHRD’s (National Education Action Plan) NEAP 2016-2020 is to have an Infrastructure Expansion Plan that will provide the basis for infrastructure activities for the Ministry.
Moreover, MEHRD stated that the School Infrastructure Projects Implementation Plan was developed, endorsed and implementation coordinated by the Ministry’s Asset Management Division (AMD) under which seven provinces have developed their provincial infrastructure plans in 2017.
Henceforth, as expressed in the report, a supplementary Annual Infrastructure Procurement Plan is currently being developed by the AMD and MEHRD has also developed an Asset Management Plan.
“All these plans are interconnected to form the Infrastructure Expansion Plan that was endorsed and launched this year at the Education Authority Conference held in Buala,” said MEHRD.
For 2017, it is recorded that MEHRD’s 111 ongoing classroom and school infrastructure projects from the year 2015 were completed.
This includes 24 science Labs, 11 technology workshops, nine home economic labs, three dormitories, two ablution blocks, 22 staff houses and 30 normal classrooms.
The construction of 15 science laboratories also commenced within this year and is ongoing.
The education ministry strives to reach its target of constructing 50 new classrooms each year with a total of 200 new classrooms constructed and operational by 2020.
