The Management of Krobo Odumase Nursing and Midwifery Training College in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality of the Eastern region has called on the government to extend transport services to the institution to enable them easily carry out their day-to-day academic activities outside the campus.
According to the management, the college since its establishment in 2015 has had no means of transport (school bus), which is affecting their academics works.
They made this known during the college’s durbar at the school campus at Odumase Krobo on September 10, 2022, to climax their six-week celebrations of the Students Representatives Council (SRC).
Vice Principal of the College cum Patron of the SRC, Mr Larry Matthew, noted the school is challenged with a poor transport system; unavailability of school buses to convey students and staff to equally important assignments, and the bad nature of the roads.
He continued by unravelling that students who are mandated to undertake their clinicals at the various hospitals within the municipality are left stranded during such periods.
To worsen their plight, Mr Larry said the school is located far from the Odumase Krobo township and there is no commercial vehicle that plies the road following the deplorable state of the main road linking the school campus and the Odumase Krobo-Accra-Asesewa highway.
“We actually have a transportation predicament such that where the school is located is far from town and there is no commercial vehicle on the road. Therefore, if we can acquire a bus it will help us to always convey our students for clinical and also support the staff to be committed towards their duties,” he mentioned.
The situation, he furthered, compels students to walk far distances to Odumase Krobo township before boarding vehicles to the various hospitals and places to discharge their clinical and other duties.
The SRC Patron chronicled that the stress the students go through causes tiredness among them upon their return to campus.
He added: “Most at times the students walk to town for clinical, and they spend a lot of time walking and sometimes by the time they come back they are already tired, leaving the management of the school with no alternatives rather than postponing lectures and conferences.”
On their part, some students of the Odumase Nursing and Midwifery Training College said that their academic performances are jeopardised by the perpetual problems overwhelming them.
They noted further that the situation has restricted them from embarking on any educational tours and other sporting festivals which is very perturbing, however, they end up spending huge money on hiring vehicles for their clinical.
Sharing the worst of all, the students observed that during emergency cases of illness among students it becomes difficult to transport the patients to a nearby hospital making them opt for a motorcycle (Okada) as the only means.
“I remember one incident where a colleague was ill, we called a motorcycle but unfortunately it rained that day, so the Okada somersaulted, so we have to call another Okada to come and pick the patient to the hospital at another cost,” a student, Gloria Owusu Ansah, recounted.
To conclude, they appealed to authorities in the Municipality, philanthropists, NGOs, and individuals among others to help them purchase a 62-seater bus at a cost of GHC350,000 since it is the public Nursing Training College in the area.
