Gender Minister visits former Juvenile Centre at Essipon

The former Juvenile Correction and Remand Centre at Essipon will soon receive a facelift to serve its current mandate as a vocational training school.

The structure, built in 1960, had suffered dilapidation posing danger to the lives of the about 50 students undergoing various vocational training there.

The Criminal Justice Act gave birth to the correction centre, which served as a home for recalcitrant children who were kept there for remodelling, training and reintegration into society.

It is, however, now a complete vocational school under the Department of Social Welfare.

This came to light when Mrs Cynthia Morrison, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, accompanied by the Chief Director and regional officers of the Ministry, visited the centre to ascertain the conditions there.

She said new drawings had already been submitted to the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly for further action adding that the Government placed premium on TVET and would, therefore, liaise with the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education for the total overhaul of the facility.

She said the GETFUND and the District Assembly Common Fund would be accessed to put up new blocks to enhance the activities of the centre.

Mr Samuel Elvis Narh, the Head of the School, said the children got the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Proficiency Certificate after completion.

"Aside the dilapidated structures, learners at the centre are faced with the stigma of being tagged as social miscreants since the school was formerly a correctional facility," he noted.