Correspondence from Western Region

Pupils and teaching staff of Allengenzule Catholic Basic School in the Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region are appealing to government of Ghana to complete a classroom block that has been abandoned for so many years.

The abandoned classroom block was started in 2013 by the erstwhile John Mahama-led government and was being financed through Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).

The aim of the construction of the classroom block by government was to address the infrastructural deficit in the school.

The Allengenzule Catholic Basic School was established in 1946.

It is located on the outskirt of the town on Tikobo Number One-Eikwe road.

A visit to the school by GhanaWeb Western Regional Correspondent observed that class one to class six pupils study under mango trees.

It was disclosed to our Correspondent that, the pupils have been studying under the mango tree for more than six years.

It also revealed that whenever it rains, pupils are compelled to go home before closing time.

In an exclusive interview with Rahman Erzan, the headmaster of Allengenzule Catholic Junior High School who spoke on behalf of the primary headmaster, Augustine Ebulley, said the situation was affecting academic performance in the school.

"Look at the children around, they are under the mango trees and look at the weather now, when it rains we close the schoolchildren. Teachers are not able to complete their syllabus and it affects pupils badly, it affects teachers too, these pupils are our future leaders

"'The situation is affecting the pupils' performance. It has reduced the population of the school because parents are not eager to bring their wards here to study under the trees", he worried.

He stated, "now looking around, from primary 3 to 6, they sit under mango trees for studies. Teaching and learning become very bad when the rain set in, so whenever that happens teachers will have to close down the school. So looking at the building now, it now rears dangerous animals like snakes".

He, therefore, appealed to government and some NGOs to come to the rescue of the school.

Moreover, some of the pupils who spoke to the correspondent, expressed their disappointment over the situation.

They seized the opportunity to appeal to government of Ghana as a matter of urgency, come to their aid by completing the project for them.

"They should come and complete our classroom block for us, for the past six years we have been sitting under these mango trees to learn so we are begging government to help us", they called.



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