The Okonam Municipal Assembly (M/A) Schools in the Suhum Municipality, which were established in 1928, has now become a death trap. Disaster could strike pupils attending the schools any time, as the primary block has already caved in.
The teachers have turned the shade of a tree into a Staff Common Room, where all activities such as marking of class exercises and exam papers among others take place.
The management of the school, who could no longer depend on the government to address their plight, has appealed to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), corporate bodies, and individuals to come to their aid.
The Acting Headmaster of the schools, Nana Dede-Wadee, decried the predicament of the teachers and pupils, and indicated that several lives would be lost in the coming days if nothing was done about the situation. Nana Dede-Wadee, who could not hide his frustration, reiterated: “This wasn’t how the Big Six planned for Ghana. The JHS building has collapsed almost 4 years now, but nothing is being done about it.”
The new JHS building to replace the old dilapidated one was started by the Kufuor regime, through the Ghana Educational Trust Fund (GETFund), but has virtually come to a halt. Nana Dede-Wadee has, therefore, called on other stakeholders to take good care of the school, and provide the necessary educational material to improve the performances of the students.
Interestingly, an intervention by Mr. Nkrumah, former headmaster of the school and now a teacher at Suhum Secondary Technical School (SUTESCO), to construct a new building with support from the community, was halted by the various political parties for no apparent reasons.
“We teachers are not here because of politics, but are here to nurture the children in Okonam, so that in the future they can be of better help to Mother Ghana.” Nana Dede-Wadee said and pleaded with the government to rebuild the school. “They shouldn’t allow a tragedy to happen before taking action. Our plea also extends to NGO’s and private businesses.”
Some of the pupils told The Chronicle that they always feel shy when they have inter-schools games. This is because their friends from other schools tease them over the poor state of the school. A female pupil, name withheld, said: “There have been several occasions that we students have to battle with snakes for our lives. Snakes bite us because we live in the same building with them due to the state of the building.”
She continued: “This situation sometimes makes us to lose concentration in class. We always get frightened whenever we see rain-bearing clouds. We are scared that the building will collapse on us when the rain pours down. This makes us to put pressure on our teachers to close us, because we feel safe when we are home.”
The anonymous pupils further stressed: “When it rains, all our books get wet, whilst the classrooms get flooded. We are pleading with the government to come and inspect our school, and help put up decent buildings for us.”