Ghana's Wa West Breaks Ground on First TVET School

For families in Wa West District's eastern corridor, watching their children's education end after primary school has been a painful routine for years.

Upper West Regional Minister Charles Lwanga Puozuing broke ground Tuesday on the area's first technical and vocational institute in Ga, delivering on a promise President John Dramani Mahama made during his 2020 campaign. The region has no second-cycle schools at all, and poverty has kept most families from sending kids to distant cities for training.

The story began in 2020 when local chiefs asked then-candidate Mahama to build a TVET school if elected. Though his party lost that election, residents repeated their request in 2024 when he ran again. This time, Mahama won and kept his word.

"This is a promise fulfilled," Puozuing said at the ceremony, framing the school as a pathway for young people to become "self-employed, employable, and employed." He urged local chiefs and queen mothers to take ownership of the project, saying community investment makes development meaningful.

The Ripple Effect

The new campus will include seven major facilities: an 18-unit classroom block, dormitory, administration building, home economics center, workshop, teachers' quarters, and dining hall with kitchen. Different contractors will handle each structure under the supervision of consulting firm ANQS Consortium Limited.

Wa West MP Peter Lanchene Toobu announced plans to partner the school with foreign TVET institutions, broadening students' skills and exposure beyond what's available locally. District Chief Executive Richard Wullo called it one of the largest coordinated infrastructure projects the district has seen this year.

Chief of Ga, Naa Tungbani Tibuorataa, welcomed the school but reminded officials through a spokesman that the region still faces deplorable roads, inadequate classrooms, and a shortage of teaching materials. His message was clear: this school is a vital start, but the work doesn't end here.

For a community that has watched opportunities stay out of reach for generations, keeping skills training close to home means everything.