General News of Monday, 30 July 2007

Source: GNA

SOS: School appeals for classrooms

Kwaku-Anya (B/A), July 30, GNA- Residents of Kwaku-Anya, a farming community in the Dormaa District of Brong Ahafo have appealed to the district assembly to construct additional classroom blocks for the local authority primary school to save the children from attending classes under trees.

Mr. Kwau Seidu, chairman of the local Unit Committee made the appeal during a meeting of the Parent Teacher Association and the School Management Committee at Kwaku-Anya to discuss the welfare of the school. He said since the school was established 54 years ago it had never been renovated nor expanded to meet the annual increase in enrolment. The unit committee chairman said the pupil population of the school had been on the increase since the introduction of the capitation grant and this had put pressure on the dilapidated structure, compelling majority of the children to hold classes under trees.

Mr. Seidu said the news that the school would soon benefit from the school feeding programme had also whipped up greater interest in children in the area to attend school.

He urged parents to take advantage of government educational policies and enrol all their children into school and also to help provide a congenial atmosphere in the school.

Mr. Seidu deplored the practice of some parents who dump their children in schools without caring about their progress. Mr. Acquah Otabil, chairman of the School Management Committee lauded calls for the re-introduction of caning as "the best way of putting stray children back on track".