Correspondence from Ashanti Region

Residents and pupils of Numasua, a village near Tepa within the Ahafo Ano North district of the Ashanti Region have complained bitterly over the poor state of their school building.

According to them, the Numesua D/A primary school which is the only school that accommodates other villagers in the area, has become what they describe as a death trap.

They said the death trap structure makes education very unpleasant and hell for them in the area.

Some parents who spoke revealed that they are tired of risking their wards' lives daily.

According to them, the classroom which was constructed by the chiefs and the residents themselves with the hope of securing an upgrade from the government to enable their wards access better education, has still not seen any improvement indicating that the state of the school keeps getting worse.

Meanwhile, on a visit to the school, one could see the wooden structure which was allegedly put up by the residents had not seen any major renovation as it keeps deteriorating, leading to its death trap state.

Another observation made was that the classrooms together with tables and chairs were all in terrible states for teaching and learning.

Some residents further told GhanaWeb that, the pupils who are unable to make it to school early to reserve a desk for themselves before class sessions either perch with their colleagues or embrace the discomfort that comes with sitting on the improvised seat.

The report further indicates that the poor state of the school building coupled with the tattered roofs forces teachers to abruptly end teaching whenever it is about to rain.

"Teachers are reluctant to accept postings to this school due to the poor state," a parent told GhanaWeb.

Some teachers who also spoke to GhanaWeb on condition of anonymity said they were not happy being teachers at the school.

They said, most of their colleague teachers who come to the school rush for transfers due to its poor state.

They further revealed that after rains force pupils to go home, academic work on the following day becomes a headache because most of the ripped-off roofing causes the tables and chairs to be badly affected.

The Chief of Numesua, Nana Kwadwo Mogyie speaking to GhanaWeb appealed to the government to help them fix the problem to make education accessible to his people. The chief who was saddened by the rate at which teachers ran away from the school said, it was time the government and other authorities came to the rescue of the community.

For his part, assembly member for the area, Micheal Birbia said the woods which were used to roof the building had all spoilt.

"You can see most of the rotten woods are loosely hanging on top of the classrooms and this makes it more dangerous". He said.

He further said that the situation had compelled them to bar pupils from going to some portions of their classrooms since those parts had been designated as danger zones.

He said the lack of adequate accommodation for teachers in Numesua was part of the reasons most teachers ran away from the area.

He further stated that it contributed greatly to the frequent absenteeism of most of the teachers daily.

"Most of these teachers who even accept postings to our community have to travel all the way from Tepa which is about 30km to Numesua. Just imagine the cost of lorry fares. This makes it very difficult to force teachers who absent themselves from school".

He, however, pleaded with the assembly and other stakeholders to come to their rescue since they were seriously suffering.



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