The Wawase basic school in the Kwawu North District of the Eastern region has been closed down over the refusal of teachers to accept postings to teach pupils of the deprived community.

The longest period a teacher has volunteered to stay and ensure the children of the rural dwellers are not deprived of basic education has been 30 days.

For the past three years, the school has been without a teacher and the community depends on volunteers with lower levels of education than required to teach the pupils.

Not even the bold decision to build a teacher’s bungalow and a monthly contribution of Ghc300.00 to any teacher who sacrifices his time behind the blackboards of Wawase D/A primary school by community members has been able to dissuade teachers posted to the area from abandoning post.

The reason for the actions of the deserting teachers is formally not known to the opinion leaders of the Wawase community, but they believe strongly that delays in the payment of allowances to the teachers is the reason.

The Daily Heritage can confirm that while the school block and teacher’s bungalows are turning into white elephants, parents have assumed a posture to allow their children stay at home and refrain from class until they attain a certain age that they can ride a bicycle or walk to neighbouring communities to attend classes.

Dzisah Ayi, a 15-year-old former pupil of Wawase D/A school, claimed that he had to stay home three years before his parents could afford to buy him a bicycle to enable him ride to school several kilometers away from his village.

According to him, the long stay at home has affected his performance in class and expressed worry that other children at the village could suffer the same fate.

He intimated that he rides the bicycle at least two hours before getting to the Samakwa D/A basic school and is unable to concentrate in class temporarily due to the nausea he feels after the long ride.

Sarah Kisseh Korantemaa, a JHS leaver who has volunteered part of her free time to teach the pupils at home, told the Daily Heritage she had no qualification as a trained teacher and teaches the children out of goodwill.

She claimed that failed political promises by the political leaders in the area are the reasons why the school is still without a teacher.

“The MP for the area promised us during the electioneering period that he would be paying those that teach at the school, but after he won, he only paid once and has not bothered to honour his promise.”

The chief of the area, Donkor Odinkro Vondee pointed out that the absence of a functional basic school in the community has been a great source of worry.

He recounted that attempts by the chiefs and people of Wawase to pay incentives to teachers by paying them an allowance of Ghc300.00 failed to work because some members of the community were unable to pay after a couple of months.

When the Daily Heritage contacted the District Chief Executive for Kwawu North, Issaka Ibrahim, on the issue, he contended that he was unaware and would summon the district education director to ensure the problem is resolved immediately.