Sankofaonline.com Editorial: February 3, 2026
Honourable Minister,
There comes a point in a nation’s educational history when neglect becomes not just an oversight but an injustice. Zion College,ZICO,stands at that crossroads today. As the first secondary school in the Volta Region, ZICO should be a national treasure, a preserved landmark of Ghana’s intellectual heritage. Instead, it has been left to decay, its infrastructure frozen in time while the rest of the country marches forward.
And now, the urgency is even sharper:Next year, Zion College will celebrate its 90th anniversary.
Ninety years of shaping minds.
Ninety years of producing leaders.
Ninety years of service to Ghana.
Yet the school that pioneered secondary education in an entire region is preparing to mark this milestone with leaking roofs, broken laboratories, inadequate classrooms, and abandoned government projects. This is not merely unfortunate. It is unacceptable.
Honourable Minister, the state of Zion College is a mirror reflecting decades of uneven development,and the reflection is not flattering.
The evidence is overwhelming.
The Science Block housing Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and ICT laboratories, is in a state of ruin. Fixtures are broken, equipment is obsolete, and the very spaces meant to inspire scientific curiosity now discourage it. In a century defined by STEM, ZICO’s science facilities belong to another era.
The boys’ dormitory block is deteriorating. The library, once a sanctuary of learning, requires complete refurbishment: shelves, cabinets, reading tables, chairs, and updated academic and reference books. A library without books is not a library; it is a symbol of abandonment.
The classroom deficit is crippling.
For a full single‑track system, ZICO needs 59 classrooms. Only 38 are functional.
Even after ongoing renovations, the total will rise only to 45, still far below what is required for effective teaching and learning. Two pavilions must be converted into permanent classrooms. Two existing blocks suffer from roof leakages, damaged ceilings, broken doors, and failing louvers.
This is the first secondary school of the Volta Region.How did we allow it to fall this far?
Government‑initiated projects remain stalled:
- A GETFund 2‑storey boys’ dormitory awaiting reassignment
- A biodigestible toilet facility abandoned after a change in government
- A 3‑unit apartment for National Service personnel being built without state support
These are not luxuries. They are basic necessities for a functioning school.
ZICO also urgently needs:
- A modern assembly hall
- A Visual Arts Block
- A modern library complex
- A proper internal road network
And the list of critical resources is long:
- A school truck
- A 60‑seater bus
- 1,500 classroom tables and chairs
- ICT equipment and computers
- Science and technology teaching tools
- 500 metal bunk beds
- Dining hall tables and benches
- Completion of the school wall
- A fully equipped sick bay, including nebulizer equipment for asthma and other respiratory care emergencies
These are the minimum requirements for a school of ZICO’s stature.Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, the 90th Anniversary Must Not Be a Celebration of Neglect.Next year, when Zion College gathers to mark 90 years of existence, what story will Ghana tell?
Will we celebrate a school restored to dignity, finally receiving the investment it has earned through nine decades of service?
Or will we gather under leaking roofs, in overcrowded classrooms, beside abandoned projects, forced to commemorate a legacy the nation itself has failed to honor?
The choice is yours, Honourable Minister.
Zion College is not asking for favors.
It is demanding justice.
It is demanding recognition.
It is demanding the respect owed to the first secondary school of an entire region.
Your leadership offers a rare opportunity to correct a historic wrong.To restore dignity where it has long been denied.To ensure that ZICO’s 90th anniversary is a celebration of renewal, not a reminder of neglect.
History will remember what you do next.
