Pupils and authorities of the Dawa Korlewa D/A Primary and Junior High School in the Eastern Region would have no choice but to continue to conduct academic activities under the prevailing difficulties unless authorities step in to offer the needed assistance.
The school founded some 57 years ago, is still uncompleted without windows and doors and very limited furniture for both pupils and teachers.
GhanaWeb observed when it visited the school that pupils sat in threes and fours on desks designed for two as well as distractions of pupils’ attention to outside activities due to the uncompleted nature of the classroom block.
Dadematse of the area, Teye Gideon Kpabitey, himself an old student of the school identified the failure to complete the school as a setback towards a conducive teaching a learning environment.
“The pupils, whenever cars are passing, they can’t sit down and learn, especially when motorbikes or cars are passing by. In fact, it is giving us problem,” a worried Dadematse told GhanaWeb in an interview.
He expressed regret that academic activities in the school were being affected by the challenges.
“The academic activities are not all that effective because the pupils cannot concentrate to learn.”
Some of the pupils who spoke in an interview complained bitterly about the situation and called for urgent steps to remedy the situation.
Teye Moses is a class six pupil of the school.
According to him, inadequate desks for the pupils were affecting their academic activities.
“We don’t have chairs and our school room is not good and we sit four in one chair so we want the President and the MPs to help us,” said Teye Moses who said the situation distracts them during teaching hours with domestic animals also entering the classrooms and defecating in them when school is not in session.
He said, “When we are in the class, we watch outside, when the teacher is teaching, we don’t concentrate. Every day we sweep the classrooms because the goats always shit in the classroom.”
Another class six pupil, Emmanuel, also shared similar concerns. He told this Correspondent that inadequate furniture and the uncompleted classroom block was bad for their studies.
He said, “We don’t have desks and the blocks too are not correct. If we sit in a row, we sit there four on one desk. We don’t have teachers’ tables too so we are begging the government to come and protect us here.”
A female student, Martey Paulina also appealed for desks and text books and called for completion of their classroom block to enhance teaching and learning in the school.
Assemblyman for Mensah Dawa Electoral Area, Sampson Atter Kwame said the situation disrupts academic activities whenever it rains.
“The structure or building is not good at all. When it is raining then the school has to close because they don’t have any proper structure and they don’t have school desks, the desks are broken,” he narrated.
The lack of a kindergarten block, he said has compelled authorities of the school to combine some of the classes in the school.
“The KG too, they don’t have KG block so they’ve moved the KG to class one and then class one and class two have combined, class four and five also have combined, it’s a combined class which is not helping the school at all so I think we need a KG block,” Samson Atter Kwame told GhanaWeb.
Asked if he has discussed the problem with the Upper Manya Krobo District Assembly, the Assemblyman said: “I was told that they are working on it but as at now, you know, they say it’s in the pipeline so we’re waiting up till now.”
