Akosua Frema Frempong
The dream of every school-going-age child is to learn in a conducive classroom environment. The situation however is different for pupils of Yeboakrom M/A Basic School in the Juaben Municipality of the Ashanti Region where contact periods take place in dilapidated classrooms, while the lives of pupils and teachers are constantly threatened by reptiles such as the black cobra and scorpions.
According to the school authorities, deplorable infrastructure is negatively affecting the academic performance of the pupils, hence the need for urgen intervention.
Yeboakrom M/A Basic School is in the Juaben Municipality of the Ashanti Region. With a pupil enrolment of 35, it was established initially as a crèche in 1985 but later expanded to a fully-fledged basic school currently registering more than 300 pupils.
The Community members erected a structure, which serves as a classroom for the pupils however, since its establishment and absorption, the school has not seen any major rehabilitation. GBCNEWS gathered that inadequate infrastructure compelled the school authorities to combine KG One and Two in order to make room for the other pupils.
That aside, the KG block is weak and therefore being supported with bamboo to prevent it from collapsing. GBC NEWS also sighted a mud and wooden structure which was erected by an NGO for the JHS pupils and an improvised staff room. Due to the deplorable nature of structures in the school, the authorities are compelled to close classes, whenever it is about to rain. Some pupils have to trek five miles to school and back home. What is horrifying is that the lives of pupils and teachers are in constant danger of being bitten by reptiles such as the black cobra and scorpions.
These concerns came to the fore at a community engagement to conscientize the indigenes to the need to prepare to own a solar mini-grid provided for the community to enhance its sustainability.
The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich in Germany established the solar mini-grid at Yeboakrom to serve as a catalyst for community development. It was observed at the community durbar that though teachers are willing to stay in the community and work, there is no decent accommodation for them.
The Chairman of the School Management Committee, Mr. Azenu Kwadwo Nougloze expressed the plight of the school.
‘’Our challenge is that since the inception of the school by the government, the school has not seen any renovation. Therefore, the walls have become weak and its falling gradually. Even the KG block has also been supported by bamboo to prevent it from collapsing.
When you look at the JHS block it was erected by an NGO with mud. However, whenever it rains classes have to be stopped to run for shelter because heavy rains also flood the classrooms with their accompanying black cobra and scorpions which put the lives of both teachers and students in danger. We are therefore calling our Juaben constituency Member of Parliament to come to the aid of the school, Mr. Nougloze indicated’’.
The Assemblyman of the area, Mr. Emmanuel Labone was hopeful that with the improvement of infrastructure, academic performance at the school will improve. A pupil of Yeboakrom M/A Basic School, Peter Gyimah Agbemador called on the Government, philanthropists, and benevolent organizations to as a matter of urgency, help give the school a massive facelift to enhance effective teaching and learning.
‘’Teachers in the school don’t have a staff room so when it rains they have no place to sit until it subsides. We are therefore appealing to well-meaning Ghanaians, philanthropists as well citizens of Yeboakrom to support the school for better academic performance’’ master Agbemador said’’.
