Management of Osubeng R/C Primary School in the Kwahu South Municipality of the Eastern Region have expressed worries over the poor conditions under which their pupils learn.
According to them in an interaction with Angel News, the challenges confronting the school are multifaceted, among which is the lack of teaching staff.
The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) four supports inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.
A publication by the Word Bank Group said teachers play key role in this process since they “are likely to be the first role models that young people encounter outside the home.
“They teach content, make learning fun, shape students’ attitudes, exemplify empathy, teach team work and respect, and build student confidence in several ways.
“Effective teachers prepare students for a world where they must interact with others, adapt quickly to change, and where success will hinge on knowledge as well as attitudes and behaviour” the World Bank Group added.
However, in this Osubeng R/C Primary School the situation is different. According to Mr. Evans Kwasi Asong who is the School Management Council (SMC) Chairman, educators in the community have always declined to teach the children in the midst of other challenges.
The pupils also raised concerns about the lack of computer lab to aid teaching and learning in the fast-growing technological environment to match wits with their colleagues from the urban communities and other developed areas.
Narrating the ordeal teachers go through during their Information Communication Technology (ICT) lessons, the head prefect disclosed that teachers use their mobile phones which are also not effective due to poor network services in the community.
Currently, there is an uncompleted classroom block which has been abandoned since its construction some 10 years ago. The new block has no doors to keep the rooms from domestic animals that turn them into homes at night.
The old block is also not serving its purpose; portions of the roofs are ripped off, other sides corroded with perforations, making teaching and learning uncomfortable.
Mr. Asong said “when it is about raining we have to close because the rain beats the students and destroys their learning materials.”
This is in addition to the lack of dual desks on both blocks on which students can sit comfortably to learn, and a canteen to serve their nutritional needs.
Commenting on the situation, Odikro of Osubeng traditional Area, Nana Agyei Debrah II, said he and his elders have appealed to the Municipal Chief Executive and the Member of Parliament for assistance yet to no avail.
According to him, the problem is not peculiar to the school but the whole community. Their market has also been abandoned since the voting out of their former MP out of power.
He argued that leaving uncompleted structures to deteriorate before they are completed results in wastage of public resources.
“More money would have to be invested to renovate them and these moneys could be diverted into businesses which could fetch much more profits.” he said.
